The Economist offers fairly positive survey of the growth of poker
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UK publication The Economist published a piece this week that surveys the recent worldwide growth of poker, with extended analysis on the factors driving the growth and the challenges the industry faces from legislative and judicial corners.
The piece pays special attention to the modern arsenal of arguments poker advocates have at their disposal. Excerpt:
As the pokeristas sharpen their legal arguments, they are hoping for some extra help from the statisticians. Online poker sites have reams of game-by-game data. These could, in theory, be used to show what makes some players better than others, and what defines their skill (Bluffing? Shrewd betting based on the rapid calculation of odds? Or both?). Though research in this area has been thin on the ground to date, number-crunchers are starting to rise to the challenge.
Among them is Steven Levitt, an economist at the University of Chicago and author of “Freakonomics”. He oversees a project called Pokernomics. It aims to collect millions of hands (which players can store using readily available tracking software) and analyse them systematically in the hope of answering questions. Does a big stack of chips allow players to bully others and win even more? To what extent does position relative to the dealer matter? Are there simple strategies that can be used to win money even with losing hands?
