Jason White and The Art of Reconstruction in Poker

In some occupations, having strong short term memory recall isn’t necessary at all. In others, however, it can be life or death. When putting together the pieces of a poker hand on the river, your ability to recount exact details is hampered by numerous factors. Stress, pressure, bias, GTO theory, and the whites of your opponent’s eyes.

How can you sort the facts from imagined fictions that are actually false, no matter how clear they appear?

To find out, we spoke to legendary homicide detective and a trained hostage negotiator, Detective Jason White from the hit TV Show The First 48. He gave us some pointers in his career that we figured might translate into good practical tips for poker players to adopt.

Take Notice of All the Details

“You’re going to get a better, more accurate version of what occurred.”

When you’re appraising a river decision for your tournament life, you want to remember all the details of the scene.

“I’m a huge proponent for going to the crime scenes rather than going straight out of the station to interview people,” says Jason. “I’m a very visual person but I think it’s absolutely necessary for people to go to the scene. When [detectives] then start interviewing people, they can visualize what they’re talking about and go through and tell if they’re lying because it doesn’t fit with the details you saw at the scene.”

To adapt this rule to poker, you’ll need to take notice of the scene at the very start of the hand, so if you’re involved in the hand and make it to that key decision on the river, remembering details of how the hand developed is vital. It’s no good sitting on your cell phone until the river when you then pay attention. By that point, you’ll have missed vital details that could heavily influence your decision.

In making a crucial decision after being put to the test, it’s vital that while you can rely on your instincts, you should never make snap decisions. The same is true in matters of life and death.

“Let’s say hypothetically it’s an officer involved shooting,” Jason says. “We don’t interview that officer right away. We give him a few days for him to process what’s going on in his brain, sleep on it and digest what occurred. One of the things they’ve determined is that you’re going to get a better, more accurate version of what occurred. You’d think it was the [memory] right away was best.”

Putting the Story Together

“You’ll get different details from different people. That’s why I like to have different witnesses.”

When it comes to putting the story together on the river, you need information above anything else. From remembering the betting action between you and your opponent(s) to processing potentially vital physical tells, it’s all about observation. Speaking to Jason White, who is one of the most decorated and respected homicide detectives in U.S. law enforcement, one of the key reasons that detectives separate witnesses is to make sure one person’s evidence isn’t ‘contaminated’ by another witness.

“They’ll have a different perception of what happened,” he says. “A different angle, a different way of processing things and you’ll get different details from different people. That’s why I like to have different witnesses. It’s amazing when I interview people that footage that might be simple to watch on video can change. You get different twists and weird [details]. It tells me that they didn’t get together and get their story straight about it. That’s one of the things that we deal with all the time, so we have to be slow and methodical.”

Being methodical at the poker table is vital. If you want to know if a fellow player’s bet on the river represents strength or weakness, then reconstructing the story of how they made it that far with you is crucial.

As always, pressure is what can lead poker players to the wrong decisions on the river. The pressure of winning or losing money, however, is nothing compared to the pressure potential witnesses face before they speak with Jason.

“If you’re going to end up putting someone in prison wrongly, that’s the number one reason; false identification. I ask people: imagine having a gun stuck in your face, it’s dark, it’s night, you’re terrified and we’re coming back with six pictures days later asking ‘is it possibly one of these individuals?’”

Stick to the Narrative

In the game of poker, making that huge decision on the river comes down to narrative, and whether the story your opponent – or you – have told until that point makes sense. Is it a logical step to take, or is there something that doesn’t scan? As detectives, seeing through the story is a key component of establishing whether someone committed the crime or not.

“We come to the table as individuals who are pretty good at conflict resolution. The common denominator of crime, however, would be stupidity. Crimes are usually [committed] for ridiculous reasons but you do want to have it where the story does make sense.”

Jason is a big poker fan and has one particular player that he always looks out for when WSOP time rolls around.

“I love Daniel Negreanu, he’s probably my favorite. I watch poker all the time, I’m an avid fan, especially the World Series of Poker. Phil Hellmuth can be annoying – he drives me crazy! Negreanu’s just an all-round nice guy.”

Watching what goes on and studying your opponents also goes to before the game even started, by doing research on those you meet at the table wherever possible. The same is true for Jason, who always checks if his interview subject spoke the last time if they’ve been arrested before… or whether they ‘lawyered up’.

“Poker players study their opponents, they watch footage on them, how they bluff, how they bet. An effective detective needs to be prepared as much as possible and get as much information about the person they’re interviewing as possible.”

Into the Fire

Jason White has been a key part of the most popular police force ever filmed on The First 48 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In recent months, he’s reconnected with one of his former partners, Ronnie Leatherman, to record a series of true crime stories called Into the Fire. Jason is immensely proud to be associated with Ronnie and of course, The First 48.

“They’ve been filming The First 48 for ten years and they’ve had at least 120 episodes with us there,’ he says. “The show’s been on since 2004. If someone told me we’d be the city (Tulsa) that’s been on there the longest, we wouldn’t have believed them. Each year they re-sign and it is a good fit – we see the value of it. It’s a great way to be transparent with the public.”

Jason says that the show reaches the most valuable demographic to the Tulsa Police Force, those most at risk of violence in the city.

“The number one viewer that watches the show are people that live in areas where there’s a lot of crime. For them to be able to see that we care is huge; we’re ambassadors to the profession. We’re blessed to be a part of it, and it’s been 99.9% a very positive experience. It goes out all over the world – they watch us in Australia, and I just got an email from Romania – it’s crazy the reach it has.”

The First 48 will undoubtedly continue to help the people of cities across America come to terms with violent crime. When he’s not out on the streets solving crimes, homicide detective Jason White will tune in to follow his favorites at the poker felt.

You can be sure of one thing – Jason White will be watching every detail all the way to the river.