Raising the Stakes

About Raising the Stakes

Pasha Esfandiary had a difficult childhood and finished only one semester of college yet managed to amass a nine-figure real estate portfolio and found a real estate company that, in just a few years, had thousands of units under management. How?

Esfandiary attributes much of his success, not only in business and investing but all areas of life (love, family, health, community, etc.), to the strategies he learned playing in the highest ranks of professional poker. In this compelling book, he shares the techniques of his successful poker career, teaching readers how to adapt poker strategies to make better decisions and achieve ambitious goals in life and business. The colorful stories of his poker exploits, told with humor and suspense, serve as case studies, drawn from Houston’s seedy underground poker scene, the World Series of Poker Main Event, international tournaments, and private games where the stakes rise into the millions.

Esfandiary’s insightful premise is that most of us don’t play to win in life—we play not to lose. We are afraid of risk and value losses much more than gains. This subconscious imbalance leads to being “blinded off”—paying our dues to stay in life’s games without winning them, until we’re finally tapped out.

His mission is to help people make better decisions and raise the stakes by thinking like the poker pros who eat risk for breakfast. In a narrative both entertaining and enlightening, he shares the strategies top poker players rely on to take calculated risks and make optimal decisions under intense pressure. Esfandiary demonstrates how these professionals control emotion, read people, leverage money, and weigh risk versus reward. His clear, practical steps for applying these techniques to living allow readers to establish and meet goals with the determination of a poker champ.

Imagine a business meeting where a potential client’s “range,” “pattern,” or “tell” (poker mainstays) hands you an advantage, or a discussion with your spouse in which you see the true motivation they don’t express. Imagine training your brain to assess risk and upside potential in a split second, before conscious thought even kicks in. Imagine using “lifetime expected value,” the poker player’s touchstone, to make even the hardest decisions easy.

Imagine raising the stakes and playing to win in all the games that comprise your life.
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