paul ,


yes , I thought so , but why don't the online casinos have more of this , I seem to find it quite rare .

wg,

Hold'em is the most popular game these days and it is the game they play for the main event in the World Series of Poker, so most poker sites have that as their main game. The other games are interesting. I have played Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo and will have a go at Stud. Used to play 5 card Stud in school but most of us used to cheat. It isn't so easy to mark the cards online

hi BB,

what's so great about hold 'em and what is it exactly , is it the 5 card closed version ?

marking cards ? naughty naughty , I've know people to get very angry about that sort of thing.

Just a reminder that the Horizon programme is on TV tonight.

Interesting programme. I have played poker against Any Bloch a few times over here http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/bio6.html

Did you win ?


Paul

He plays cash tables and I did have one nice hand against him. I made a strong hand on the flop and I did get some money from him but he wasn't willing to part with much. Not a typical online player

Excellent BB2 Horizon program last night regarding card counting Blackjack.
Thought about the following afterwards in relation to systems:-

-No system will ever work in the long term. The market is just too efficient firstly because casinos want to make money so ban people who consistantly beat them, and secondly people seem to want to maximize short term gains. This is evidenced by the following:

-The chap who made the electronic card counting computer sold it to maximize short term profits.
-The people who came up with the 'team' counting idea recurited hundreds of students to maximise short term gains.
-I guess that Edward Thorp thought he'd make more money from publishing his original card counting idea rather than using it himself.

An explanation for this behaviour is that they think someone else will come up with the same idea so they need to capitalise on it quickly.

The maximisation of short term gains seems to increase market efficiency in that the systems get known about quickly and will get arbitraged away (or stopped if we're talking about casinos).

In the stock market money flows quickly to areas (or systems) with good returns (eg hedge funds) untill there is too much money doing the same thing so the returns fall back to normal and the money chases the latest 'hot' idea.

A lot of the people in the programme were broke students. I think that explains their desire to make the quick $$$$$. Must be tempting to make a million dollars quickly and then move on to the next challenge.

They said at the end that Edward Thorp has gone on to make millions trading the stock markets. I don't think he has published that system.

There is a book