joe

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 There results will be welcomed by a poker community frustrated by outdated notions about luck.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.

joe

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.

joe

KASPAROV AND TURING PLAY UNIQUE CHESS MATCH

Chess Computer 26june12When chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov took to the stage at the University of Manchester he faced an opponent of legendary intellect, and yet it the game was all over in a matter of seconds.

The match was Turing vs. Kasparov, but this was no ordinary competition.

“Turing” was in fact the chess programme written in the late 1940s by Alan Turing, the father of computing. Kasparov, who had a peak World Chess Federation (FIDE) rating of 2,851, introduced the programme to an audience marking the centenary of Turing’s birth, at the University where Turing himself used to work.

Turing was instrumental in early computing as well as for his pioneering role as a code breaker during World War Two. As well as playing a major part in the Allied war effort, Turing went on to work on the world’s first stored-programme computers, as well as areas of mathematical biology, before he died in 1954 aged just 41.

With the board on a large screen behind him, Kasparov opted to play as black, but anyone looking forward to a long battle of attrition was to be disappointed.

As white made its third move Kasparov couldn’t help himself: “Not a great choice…” he said, to a ripple of laughter. Then, within a minute, Kasparov had checkmate on “Turochamp”; all over in just 16 moves.

“I’m sorry,” said Kasparov, smiling, as the audience groaned good-naturedly.

Kasparov went on to praise Turing’s chess programme, as well as his contribution to computer science.

“I suppose you might call it primitive, but I would compare it to an early car,” Kasparov said. “You might laugh at them but it is still an incredible achievement.

“It’s something that definitely changed our lives.”

Watch the footage of the match on the BBC website.

joe

POKER IN THE PSYCHOLOGY CLASSROOM

School Books Apple SmallAn article on the Card Player website this week features an interview with Dr Daniel DeBrule, an assistant professor at University South Bend, who teaches “Poker: Behavioural, Clinical, Cognitive and Social Concepts” to a class of 30 undergraduates.

In a similar vein to that of Charlie Nesson, the Harvard Law Professor, who uses poker in his teaching, DeBrule, 34, uses his background in clinical psychology with the aim of further legitimizing poker.

According to DeBrule, psychology has for years been an important part of poker, but analysis of what that actually means is missing.

“It’s a tricky thing because psychology is so multi-faceted,” says DeBrule, who invites professional poker players to speak to students. “You have biological psychology, clinical, social, experimental, developmental. There are so many layers to it.”

The interview, with Brian Pempus, discusses such things as emotional balance, control, superstition and tilt, all of which could potentially be brought under control by a little effort on the part of the player.

Ready to sign-up for class? Read the full interview on the Card Player website.

joe

POKER MEMOIR TO REVEAL ALL

Royal Flush SmallShe was the hostess of some of poker’s most exclusive home games, featuring Hollywood celebrities, high profile athletes and high rollers. Then, the world she had reigned over for years came crashing down around her.

Molly Bloom arranged these high-class poker games in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Miami. All was well until a lawsuit seeking to reclaim $4 million emerged, bringing the games to a halt.

Now Bloom, known to her clients as the “poker princess,” is writing a memoir about her experiences, spilling the beans on some of poker’s most secretive games.

Bloom was among those listed in the lawsuit by the former clients of Brad Ruderman, who is currently in jail for wire fraud and investment adviser fraud. Ruderman allegedly lost millions in the home games, but it was not his money to lose.

Among those listed with Bloom was actor Tobey Maguire, a keen poker player, who settled out of court in November 2011, paying back some $80,000 from his winnings; although his total profit was thought to be several times that amount.

The details of all of this, including the other players in the game, will feature in the book, published by It Books, a division of HarperCollins, and scheduled for release in summer 2014.