Archive for the ‘General Poker’ Category

Playing poker could become a norm in after-school clubs if a professor from Harvard University gets his way.

The idea comes from Charles Nesson who believes that poker can teach things such as self-respect and an understanding of important business skills and can even help in bringing global peace!

Initiatives have already begun in parts of the US and Jamaica with Professor Nesson planning to deliver his strategy when addressing a conference on virtual worlds and cyberspace in Singapore next month. His aim is to set up global poker strategic thinking societies throughout the world and have them based at some of the most important universities.

The societies will help schools to run poker workshops, sponsor university poker events as well providing a curriculum for the activity for those universities wanting to participate.

Nesson believes that playing poker encourages people to think for themselves, a key component in individuality and helps individuals learn how to manage resources.

The professor also claims business decision making can be learned from such factors as not making the first offer, an important skill learnt in poker. He also believes problem teenagers could learn such things as composure, patience, respect of enemies and understanding other people’s point of view.

Poker could also teach a person to lose well and even just how to lose, while managing a short stack could help in people’s personal financial decision making.

He goes further by suggesting that law students could appreciate the ‘importance of evidence’ while international decision making could be helped by knowing how to bluff.

“As far as I’m concerned, it would be a better world if we all played poker,” Professor Nesson said.

It is certainly an interesting idea and I do believe there is some merit in what he is saying. Poker can teach valuable life skills such as respect and an understanding of human nature. It is no coincidence that some of the best poker players have a great knowledge of what makes people tick - many of the top players have studied psychology - and understanding other people is one of the most important life lessons anyone can learn.

Whether there will be after-school poker clubs in schools remains to be seen. I know many teachers who play poker in their spare time but I can hear backlash from the media if any educational establishment decided to go down this route.

The undoubted popularity of poker emerged again this week with the news that the first professional poker player will appear in this season’s run of the popular US TV series Survivor.

The honour goes to the 36-year-old Jean Robert Bellande, a player who has already earned $750,000 in tournaments this season and who first came to prominence when finishing third in the World Series of Poker circuit event in 2005 and is known for his aggressive table manner. That full-on style saw him being invited to the Bad Boys of Poker event last year won by Tony G .

The show, for anyone who does not know it, is a Big Brother style event usually set on some paradise island where the contestants battle for ’survival’ and face the public vote each week. The show has been running now for 15 seasons and regularly features in the top ten of programmes watched in the US. Bellande is hoping to use some of the skills he has developed in poker tournaments to help him land the huge first prize.

This season’s Survivor will take place for the first time in China.

“Poker is a mental game, and I think ‘Survivor’ is a mental game,” said Bellande on the CBS website.

“My strategy for this “Survivor: China” is going to be similar to my strategy in a poker tournament. For the first couple hours, I am evaluating my opponents; figuring out who the strong players are, who the weak players are, and then I plan my attack accordingly.”

Surprisingly, the poker star is among one of the outsiders for glory and can be backed at a healthy 18/1 to win the title. Now, I could be way off the mark but I thought these knock-out reality shows were about cleverness and cunning. Therefore it is safe to say that any professional poker player would appear to the necessary guile and wit to do well on this type of programme.

This would not be my usual betting medium (I got my fingers burnt backing Maggot to win Celebrity Big Brother a couple of years ago) but it is possible the New Yorker could rate as a shrewd bet to land the title. This is, of course, if he takes it seriously.

However, with one million dollars up for grabs there is a good chance he will be trying his hardest to land the TV title.

In a game of Texas Hold ‘Em heads up poker, a computer was narrowly beaten by two professional players.

Under laboratory conditions, the computer, nicknamed Polaris, failed to master the humans but scientists believe the day is not far away when the software can get one over its human counterparts.

The experiment took place in Alberta, Canada with the computer using only the power of an ordinary laptop. Over a series, the computer edged narrowly ahead but it was the humans who eventually came out on top.

The so-called “First Man-Machine Poker Championship”, match was staged at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and offered prize money of $50,000 (£25,000) to the winner of four rounds of poker.

Although for the professional players - Ali Eslami and Phil “the Unabomber” Laak - the cash prize was small, the stakes were high.

“I literally felt the same feeling that you would have if you beat 500 people in a tournament and won a million dollars,” Laak said after the match. “We won, not by a significant amount, and the bots are closing in.”

“Playing against the computer was more exhausting than any other game he had played,” Eslami said. “I really am happy it’s over. I’m surprised we won….it’s already so good it will be tough to beat in future.”

Computers such as ‘Deep Blue’ have already proved more than a match for Grand Master chess players, while recently there was the development of software that could play the perfect game of draughts - indeed the computer could not be beaten and the best the human could hope for was a draw.

It is perhaps the computer’s inability to bluff that was its biggest weakness though programmers are already working on a way to increase this aspect of its artificial intelligence. With so much online poker being played these days, the argument about the computer not being unable to read tells and players faces falls down.

Another plausible reason for the computer’s defeat is its inability to play off ‘confidence’ that can help a lot of players.

Perhaps worrying for the future of online poker is if such software can be developed and used by any player. Indeed, if this is possible then it would certainly be the end for the pastime with only ‘live’ tournaments offering a chance for humans to show their poker skills.

Cassius Marcellus Coolidge may not be one of the most famous painters in the world but the early 20th century artist was responsible for a series of works that have become icons in the world of poker.

His nine paintings, which made up the series Dogs Playing Poker, are the most widely known poker-related pictures and his anthropomorphized works have been reprinted and copied throughout the last century.

The works were originally commissioned for a cigar company and each show various dogs sat around a table playing poker – though what type of poker is unclear – with some of the canine’s smoking cigars.

The most famous picture, A Bold Bluff, together with another entitled Waterloo, was sold in 2005 for $590,400.

A Bold Bluff

The oil painting depicts five dogs sat around a card table with the central figure – a St Bernard – having just gone all-in while appearing to hold a weak hand. The rest of the dogs are staring at their rival apparently trying to see whether he is bluffing or has indeed ‘got the goods’.

Waterloo

A follow up to A Bold Bluff sees the table looking in disbelief as the St Bernard reveals his bluff – showing a pair of twos. The rest of the table seem shocked by events with one dog up on his feet, another staring away in disbelief while one is looking down at the floor. The winner appears to have a slight grin on his face.

A Friend in Need

This painting depicts a bit of skulduggery as one dog appearas to be passing an ace to his friend dog on his left hand side. The rest of the table are oblivious to the cheating going on apart from another hound, seated close by, who appears to be watching what is happening.

Coolidge’s achievement of producing these much sought after pieces of poker art is all the more remarkable considering he had no formal training as an artist, and had begun life as a sketcher before making a living producing Comic Foregrounds. These foregrounds are still popular to this day and are common at seaside resorts and tourist attractions. A person puts their head through a life-size foreground and a picture is taken.

Local newspaper’s can be a great source for news but some interesting stories sometimes don’t get the coverage they might deserve.

The nationals would never pick up on story about a player who finished 187th out of 1,800 in any type of competition but for the Express and Echo it was a nice tale about a local man who is doing well at poker.

It tells the story of a player called Alan Vinnicombe who, although he only finished 187th, still managed to finish in the top ten per cent in the tournament in the World series of Poker.

And the former landlord from a small village has an interesting tale for any aspiring card player.

“Like most people, I started on the internet, entering little tournaments,” he said.

“I started winning four or five tournaments a month, so I moved up to a higher level.”

Vinnicombe turned professional last February and now regularly competes all across the country, Europe and America and relishes the challenge that international competition brings.

He said: “I enjoy playing international events. It’s funny how the national traits come out in the game - the French, for example, can be very flamboyant.

“I travel the world, I meet great people and I love playing the game - I think I’m very lucky.”

The card player, ranked 212th in Europe, and 55th in the UK, believes he could earn a salary of at least £100,000 this year.

One tournament he won in March netted him a £15,000 jackpot.

But rewards do not come without hard graft. He puts at least 60 hours a week into his poker - a game he admits can be mentally gruelling.

With the upcoming Vegas no-limit competition requiring around £6,000 just to take part, Vinnicombe is aware of the risks and put his success down to intuition and the collection of sunglasses he uses to hide his emotions.

He said: “I have a good sense of working out what other people have got. I also have a selection of sunglasses - it’s important not to give anything away.”