Geeks and Poker?

Best ID Ever! asks: "Poker, a fascinating intersection of math, game theory, and observation of human behavior, is currently exploding in popularity due to televised high-stakes tournaments such as the World Poker Tour and Binion's 2003 World Series of Poker. Many of today's top professional players have nerdly roots such as Mathematicians, chess prodigies, or backgammon champions. A few pros, including 2000 champion Chris Ferguson, even used to play poker in the IRC poker community. This year's World Series final event, which began Saturday and lasts through the week, drew 2600 participants, more than three times the number of participants in 2003. How many Slashdot readers play poker, and what do you think of Poker's upswing?"

Comments

Re:Personally...

[Bullschmidt]

Actually, you are quite wrong one a lot of points here.

Roulette does NOT give you 50% - its MUCH worse, considering there are 2 green slots.

And counting cards, as another poster said, is NOT illegal - but the casinos have the right to ask you to leave and never return. Violating THAT could be illegal.

Plus the fact is that roulette is ultimately a completely losing game that you CANNOT break 50% on. Other games (ie poker) you can gain an advantage through playing style and win money in the long run if you are better than your opponents. If there is a house take, then you have to be better by a larger amount, but in that sense it is winnable.