3a. Re: Consecutive Deal "Anamolies" xvp
Date: Mon Jun 11, 2007 4:18 pm ((PDT))Even the top pro Hold'em folks negate video poker as "sitting at a machine"
and can't grasp the concept of perfectionism yet ignoring small penalty stuff.
I agree regarding MOST of the top hold'em players, although in 2002 I was at the Golden Nugget and saw defending 2001 Main Event winner Chris "Jesus" Ferguson playing the $25 VP machine at GN. Didn't look over his shoulder, so I don't know if this was recreation, or serious (at that time, I think the cash back was still 2/3%, making Jacks or Better positive expectation without consideration of comps). At least he considered the game worth playing.
Not that a Hold'em player's choices of "other" games has any meaning -- many of them simply "gamble" (no card counting) at blackjack, lose their poker winnings on sports bets, or play craps, so...
Poker, of course, is an entirely different game not only because of its structure, but because it is inexact due to the opponent(s) being a (set of) human(s), rather than a machine. This makes minute adjustments in strategy far less important than making allowances for the perceived tendencies of the human player.
It also means that if you're the 10th-best player in the world and the 9 who are better are at your table, you should expect to lose, while at blackjack it doesn't matter how much better or worse than you the other players are, and at VP, the other players aren't even in "your" game (unless playing in a bank of progressives, of course, in which case I guess it does matter).
--BG
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