Poker Grump: An experiment in variance

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Anonymous said...: A truly surprising and fascinating article. I never would have guessed there would be that degree of variance over that many hands. Now, remember there are folks who oppose legalized online poker on the basis that it is gambling. I have always believed that since poker is a game of skill, this argument holds little weight. But this article, while accepting that successful poker requires skill. shows that the skill can be swamped by the vagaries of luck - even over a substantial period of time. In fact, you may argue that the period of time is so long as to render moot those arguments that start with "In the Long run..." The long run would have to be so long it would be impractical.

It would be interesting to know how many standard deviations out from the mean the first losing simulations were.; 5:16 PM
Chris Helms, MBA said...: This is a great poker blog. I'm going to follow the feeds from your site. Very nice work here.

Chris Helms
http://floppedtheboat.blogspot.com
Serious Poker Fanatic; 10:36 PM
astrobel said...: I'll have to go with Barry Greenstein this time and state that occasionally math is idiotic.
If we are to believe this actually happens, how is it possible that so many pros make a killing year after year ?; 4:32 AM

Poker Grump