Recently I read a very interesting article “Social and Psychological Challenges of Poker” by Kyle Siler. This article puts into perspective the play of 27 million hands of poker and analyzes them from low stakes, medium stakes and high stakes online poker games. The author believes that in the long term even really good players do not have the edge as their success would indicate. At face value it seems absurd. However, after reading the article in it’s entirety it makes perfectly good sense.

Some of the reasoning behind Silers theory is that success is not the norm but that sucees does fluctuate. I think most poker players would agree with that thinking. However, most players would counter and ask, “How come there are only a hand full of online poker players that consistently win at the higher levels?”  Good question. The article also correctly suggests that low stakes and beginner caliber players do not correctly correlate risk with reward and often times make poor choices in playing hands because of it. I could go on and on about the various theories that are spoken about in relation to the game of poker. The article was a very good read and certainly worth your time and effort.

Check it out in the Journal of Gambling Studies. Release Date:1/6/10 Publisher: Spring Netherlands