The critical issues underlying the current state of non-regulation in the live poker sector – Part.3

The influence of variance in so-called “sports poker” in the final outcome of a live tournament

In the last article I stated that the traditional structure of Texas Hold’em poker tournaments is one of the causes that forces discipline in the category of “gambling”. In paragraph 1.4, page 21 of my Thesis, I propose the analysis of a hand played in a live tournament, demonstrating such hypothesis.

Don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell you the hand!

It’s about the usual “bad beat”, but those who want will also understand why I never talk about the calculation process for live tournaments, rather than the process of meaning. The demonstration is based on the research path that starts from Crismani’s assumption, through which it is possible to identify the main critical, which continues to be influenced by the Padia component of Caillois. Likewise, lay the groundwork for developing the Skill Poker Index. Finally, taking up Caillois’ thesis, it was possible to verify the veracity applied to the tournament mode on a significant number of hands.

Result of the demonstration

The spot that I told, in front of countless similar spots, allows me to say that the random component is still crucial for poker Texas hold’em in the classic live tournament mode, according to the thesis of Caillois [Tani and Ilari, 2016]. In fact, in all in situations,  in the specific case on the flop, and in any case before the river, both players no longer had opportunities to place further bets, or apply new strategies. Both left the outcome of the performance to the fate, thus allowing the Padia component to take over. The analysis of the case presented in the scientific elaboration allows to identify in the all in condition (show down) – in any phase that precedes the river – the greater influence of the Padia component, gradually giving way to the ludus as you approach the river. 

Go to the next article not to lose the thread of the discussion on the Skill Poker Index, or go to the first article of the series to resume it.

Pietro Semeraro 

Transl. by Margherita Basile