At the Freakonomics Blog, Steven Levitt talks a little about his project to study cheating in online poker. NewMexiKen doesn’t gamble but I have grown somewhat addicted to computer poker (myself against the software). I found Leavitt’s closing paragraphs amusing.
Because of these two projects on poker, I figured I better play a little myself to understand the game better. I was surprised how much fun it was. I was a big loser initially, even in low stakes games. Now I’m still a loser, but not as much, and at much higher stakes. I’ve even had the honor (??) of losing to the guys who just got caught cheating.
But the best news is that my wife Jeannette quickly picked up the game and now does not consider her day complete if she can’t slip in a few sit-n-go no limit hold ’em tournaments after the kids go to sleep. I married well.
I don’t play, but I love the poker tv shows and I definitely enjoy watching others play online. I especially like it when someone gets geeky and analyzes his play — the math stuff (especially comparing how he plays at different stakes) is fascinating.