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POKER SKILLS AT 60KPH

Track Cycling Small 6aug12Olympic cycling is just like poker. Well, a little bit.

With track cycling dominating the weekend Olympic schedule, a few analogies came to light as the likes of Britain’s Victoria Pendleton, China’s Guo Shuang and Hong Kong’s Lee Wai Sze raced at tremendous speed around the velodrome on their way to the gold, silver and bronze medals in the sprint competition.

Kitted out in familiar aerodynamic uniforms and specially designed helmets, each rider tried to outwit their opponent, picking the right time to make their move, bluffing one direction before darting past in another just a second later. It made for dramatic scenes for the enthusiast as well as those watching cycling for the first time.

But there was another element to their uniforms, the visor on each rider’s helmet, not simply there to keep the 60kph wind from their faces, but mirrored to hide the rider’s eyes. With the race hinged on so many subtle variations of intent, each rider depends on surprise. The eyes – known to many as the windows to the soul – can easily betray a rider’s strategy, tipping off opponents as to your game plan. Spotting that can change a race entirely.

Noticed any similarities to poker yet?

The booming trade for sunglasses at the poker table is not a fashion statement – well not always. Sunglasses can, particularly for new players, add a defensive layer when in high pressure situations, the eyes often giving away the strength of a hand to a stronger player with a finely-tuned ability to spot weakness.

It’s why many believe there shouldn’t be sunglasses in poker. In fact in the 2011 IFP World Championships, sunglasses were not permitted, much to the surprise of some who have come to count on this little wardrobe accessory (few protested). Instead, their eyes could be seen clearly, putting this important if hard to learn skill back in the game.

So is cycling poker on wheels? Perhaps that’s as far as the analogy goes, although at least one commentator in the women’s Olympic road race picked up on the “poker game” that was the closing stages, when three breakaway riders tried to outwit each other to win gold.

But in many sports such mind games exist. The analogies made to poker are spot on.

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LET THE GAMES GO ON

Chess Pieces 22june12If you’ve been totally absorbed by the Olympic Games for the past 16 days, Monday morning may have left you with something of an empty feeling. The party is officially over, the flame is extinguished and they’ll be no more field hockey or weightlifting before breakfast, at least not unless you do the heavy lifting yourself.

For fans of Mind Sports there are a few of these moments every year; the end of a major competition, or the last days of the World Series of Poker main event – no more cards to deal, no more opponents to outwit, no more chips to riffle.

But Mind Sport fans need not wait too long before a vast array of various poker disciplines are thrust upon them, with the new look European Poker Tour about to start its ninth season and the International Mind Sport Association World Mind Games already under way in Lille, France.

With the likes of Bridge, Chess, Draughts, Go and Xiang Qi making up events, with action on-going until the final day on 23 August. Next time it’s hoped poker, which has Observer Status, will be among the events on show.

In the meantime it provides a spectacular demonstration of mental agility in the world. It may not come with flags and a big flame, but for Mind Sport players across the world the games have just begun.

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LATEST FROM THE WORLD MIND GAMES

Chess King Queen Large 7june12With the World Mind Games now in full swing in Lille, France, results are emerging from each days play in the five disciplines being contested.

While poker is yet to make its debut in the Games, fans of Mind Sports in general can indulge themselves in reports, interview and all the latest results from the games, including the last of the Xiang Qi results as well as news of Chinese Taipei double win earlier this week.

In the Daily Bulletin you’ll find interviews with current chess Grandmasters and key figures involved in the WMG in all five sports.

You can also read articles about the wider impact of the games, as well as details of how to listen to Broadcasts from the Games, which continue until the final day of play on 23 August.

Check out the results page for more details.

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ACADEMICS DETERMINE POKER TO BE A GAME OF SKILL

School Books Apple SmallA report by three academics in Holland has added further weight to the argument that poker is a game of skill.

PhD candidates Rogier J.D. Potter van Loon and Dennie van Dolder and Associate Professor of Finance Martijn J. van den Assem of Erasmus School of Economics in Rotterdam, Holland analysed more than 400 million player-hands between October 2009 and September 2010, across low, medium and high stakes levels. There results will be welcomed by a poker community frustrated by outdated notions about luck.

“Our results suggest that skill is an important factor in online poker,” said van den Assem, who explained that the report was intended to inform those around the world debating the legality of poker and the taxation of winnings.

The 86-page paper, which has now been submitted for academic scrutiny, defines skill as “anything that affects a player’s performance other than chance”. The report will now undergo a lengthy double-blind review with the intention of being published in the future.

The report examines 76.7 million different hands, with an average of 5.4 players per hand, producing 415.9 million different observations involving 500,000 players. From that a figure of 32 is produced – the percentage of players posting a positive result after rake.

“The results provide strong evidence against the hypothesis that poker is a game of pure chance,” the report concluded. “For a game of pure chance there would be no correlation in the winnings of players across successive time intervals. In our large database for three different stakes levels, however, we do find significant persistence in the performance of players over time.”

The report concludes by detailing how players in the top per cent across a six-month period were two times as likely to remain in the top ten per cent in the next six month period, with that figure being 12 times as likely for the top one per cent. In addition, those with a tight and aggressive playing style performed better than those using loose and passive play.

“This finding can indicate that better players choose to play more and that players learn from playing. Differences between players explain an important share of the differences in their performance”.

To read the full report, visit http://ssrn.com/abstract=2129879.

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WORLD MIND GAMES COME TO A CLOSE

Lille Map SmallThe last of the gold medals were awarded at the World Mind Games yesterday, bringing events in Lille to a close after 15 days of competition.

In the Bridge competition, there were gold medals for Sweden in the Open Team category while England’s women won their classification, ahead of Russia which took silver and Poland which took the bronze.

Russia won gold in the Draughts Rapid Teams, ahead of the Netherlands in second and Latvia in third. In the women’s category the Netherlands won gold, ahead of Russia and Mongolia.

In his closing address IMSA President Jose Damiani paid tribute to the competitors and to the organisers of the 2012 World Mind Games, before officially bringing the games to a close. The third World Mind Sport Games will take place in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Find details of all the results from Lille on the IMSA website.