Geeks and Poker? 657
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?"
Underlying elements (Score:5, Funny)
poker? (Score:0, Funny)
actually, that's probably a
fp?
Re:Underlying elements (Score:2, Funny)
"How many Slashdot readers play poker"?? (Score:5, Funny)
All those who aren't posting anymore, because they're too skint to pay the ISP bill now...
I used to play but... (Score:3, Funny)
Data from Startrek TNG played poker (Score:5, Funny)
Heh (Score:3, Funny)
Last I checked most of the folks in 2600 [2600.org] were pretty sharp!
A lot of /.ers play poker (Score:5, Funny)
Or, was that just me
Drinking (Score:3, Funny)
Poker? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Personally... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I used to play but... (Score:3, Funny)
not appropriate (Score:2, Funny)
Slashdotters are way more likely to spend an evening at home playing pocket pool.
a zinger for y'all (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Underlying elements (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I used to play but... (Score:4, Funny)
Don't you mean figuratively?
"I'm all in!...What!? Aces over Kings!?.... Noooooooooo, not my pants!"
Re:money and women (Score:4, Funny)
*yes, I have actually played Strip Uno.
Re:Data from Startrek TNG played poker (Score:5, Funny)
My favorite poker-related episode was the one (one of the ones) in which the Enterprise gets caught in a temporal loop. Data, more than the others, experiences deja vu, to the extent that they realize (after several dozen iterations) that they're about to have a destructive, time-ripping encounter with a ship from the past piloted by a late 20th century sitcom star [frasieronline.co.uk].
They eventually find a way for Data (big D) to transmit a small amount of data (little D) to his past self. The data Data sends to Data is the number "3" (IIRC), which shows up in every poker hand Data deals. He realizes that the odd coincidence corresponds to the last thing his previous self saw before being destroyed -- Riker's command pips. He follows Rikers instructions (which had been countermanded by Picard) and the crews of both ships finally emerge from (yet another) temporal distortion.
All off the top of my head. I am such a geek.
Re:Personally... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Personally... (Score:4, Funny)
It's lose you idiot! LOSE
Every day i see some idiot saying loose instead of lose, and i'm sick of it! Your mom is LOOSE. You LOSE your money in Vegas. Get it?!
Re:Personally... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Underlying elements (Score:2, Funny)
cheers...ank
Re:Personally... (Score:3, Funny)
"Strange game Professor Falkan, it seems the only way to win is not to play..."
Re:Poker advise (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Underlying elements (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Data from Startrek TNG played poker (Score:2, Funny)
Geek alert:
I assure you, commander, the cards have been sufficiently randomized.
The episode is Cause and Effect.
Re:There is little math in /playing/ poker (Score:2, Funny)
geeks play strip uno all the time! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Personally... (Score:3, Funny)
If you keep this crusade up, you'll be able to nip that problem in the butt
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to remove my tongue from my cheek.
Re:Personally... (Score:3, Funny)
Of course, that's true, and that's the thing about Vegas that makes being a casino owner so lucrative: Most people aren't really interested in the best bets in the house, and those who come to gamble $20,000 or more almost never are. Most people are interested in either winning a car/jet ski/million dollars on a slot machine with really crappy return rates, or in getting free drinks and looking like a total James Bond stud. Not that there's anything wrong with either of those.
With that said, the original point of this thread was wondering what the best bets in the house are, and the answer is that a single bet on craps with max odds played gives you the best expected value for a game that involves absolutely no skill.
Well, almost no skill, anyways. When I play craps I somehow always end up tossing the dice off the craps table and into the blackjack area. God, how the people at the craps table hate me...
Todd
Re:Underlying elements (Score:4, Funny)
In other news 420 people march to save the rain forest. Mary Jane on scene with more coverage.
Two Most Important Rules of Poker (Score:2, Funny)
It's like (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Personally... (Score:2, Funny)
"Your right. But you're point is mute." would have been +5 funny instead of +4.
Re:Personally... (Score:1, Funny)