On Poker

A classic game

A game of poker, a universe of possibilities. Like all of the great games of strategy, there is much one can learn from playing this game, many lessons applicable to everyday life. One can access greater insights into the nature of various aspects of strategic thinking. From calculating probabilities intuitively, to psychological manuvering, to plain old step-by-step calculation, to long term future projection, to puzzle solving, there are indeed numerous benefits from the practice of these games.

My personal pick goes to poker. A very subtle game, fairly tough to master. It is not immediately obvious how to win at this game, and it has quite a steep experience curve one usually needs to attain before becoming very good at it. I say experience curve rather than learning curve because it seems to me that poker is much more reliant on actual play experience as compared to some other games. You can learn all of the tactics and positions regarding chess from books, but in poker the books are usually not as helpful, mainly because of the nature of the game. Poker is defined mainly by general rules of thumb, few absolutes, and requires lots of decision making, keen opponent observation and in-game tactical adjustments. In comparison, chess can perhaps be considered a simpler endeavor. A computer can beat a world champion chess player, whereas in poker there has never yet been devised a program that can consistently perform at a high rate of success. But then again, world champion poker players can lose at a table of rank amateurs (it happens not that infrequently too), whereas in chess this is extremely rare. It would be considered borderline miraculous if Vishwanathan Anand took on the local high school chess club champ and lost (unless that kid was a reincarnated Tigran Petrosian). So here you have an interesting dichotomy in those two games of chess and poker. Perhaps a new game can be devised which combines aspects of both, or other games of strategy and psychology which test various aspects of the mind going up against other minds or even testing one's own mind (hopefully more challenging than solitaire).