With over 40 million searches every month for the keyword Poker, it would appear that wise heads in the Washington Capital are still debating whether or not this avidly played game is a game of chance or not.
Without a doubt, no one in their right mind would have this “Game of Chance” discussion about national, state or provincial lottos. Likewise, no one would argue this about a heads or tails coin toss.
It’s not rocket science to anyone but a few die-hard repeat lotto losers that lotto or coin tosses are simply a roll of the dice figuratively and literally. No amount of prayer helps the 2.3 million people who pray monthly for a Super6 Win in the national lotto.
However when it comes to Poker there is always something peculiar about the arguments brought to bear on the matter. Speculation, conjecture and a lack of common sense was the norm. It appeared that true scientifically researched answers were not to be had… until recently…
Michael DeDonno, an MBA and psychology doctoral student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Douglas K Detterman a professor at the same university decided to objectively test the theory.
How can you possibly prove poker is about skill and not luck? Well folks, simple statistics and a little experimenting did the trick. Micheal and his Professor worked with 2 groups of students with no previous poker experience, one of the groups was given strategy tips while the other received a lecture on poker history.
The results showed two things that are obvious to most poker players: First, people who knew about strategy did much better at the table than those who knew squat. And second, as with most games requiring pitting your intelligence against many other intelligent players, undoubtedly there is a learning curve and all players eventually improve their level as they engage more. In contrast my granny has played lottario’s for more than 35 years now and if she has won anything significant, I have to say she has kept it a pretty good secret from the rest of the family, lol.
And to those of you who have never read a poker book - what there are Poker Books? Yeah, there are, catch a poker book at your local library before busting out with the boys this weekend. Knowledge is free; loosing your money at a Poker table is not.
Tags: entertainment, games, camping, fun, recreation
Tags: Games
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