Saturday, July 10, 2010

An article on Poker

I have some interest in poker since my son makes a living playing poker, though he now says that it has become boring and that he wants to move to something else. From a recent article At war with luck :Is poker a game of skill or chance? :
"...Garry Kasparov, a chess grandmaster, argues that poker offers lessons on chance and risk management that even his beloved game cannot. .....

Yet perhaps the clearest argument in favour of poker being skill- rather than chance-dependent comes from Mr Sklansky, and it has to do with losing rather than winning. Imagine trying intentionally to lose at a game of pure chance, like roulette or baccarat. It would be impossible. At the beginning of a deal or a roll you have to bet on something. You can no more deliberately play badly than you can deliberately play well. The same is not true for poker, which offers multiple opportunities to make sure you lose."
More links to gamling and poker from MindHacks post Gambling on our cognitive biases

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