WikiSysop at 14:07, 23 March 2007

2007-03-23T14:07:11Z

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	==Mark Twain: The Science vs Luck==		==Mark Twain: The Science vs Luck==

WikiSysop at 14:06, 23 March 2007

2007-03-23T14:06:21Z

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			1. poker is game of perceptive and representational skills beyond understanding odds, skills of play with the balance of power in an open field, skills of telling what's real and what's knot. When played in real life with real chips made of armies and weapons of mass destruction, poker becomes a game of life.

			2. Poker, the word, is said to derive from the German, ''pochen'', to bluff.

			'''Bluff: To deceive an opponent in cards by a bold bet on an inferior hand with the result that the opponent drops a winning hand; ... to deter, dissuade, or frighten by pretence or a mere show of strength; ... to cause to believe what is not true.''' <br>(Webster's Third International Dictionary)

			3. Can we get video clips of hold'em showdowns in which a player successfully bluffs?
			Can we build a video database of such hands? Can we study the players' art to see if we can unravel the artifice, perhaps to learn a bit of it ourselves?


			***

			==Mark Twain: The Science vs Luck==

			(Written about 1867.)

			At that time, in Kentucky (said the Hon. Mr. K-----); the law was very
			strict against what is termed "games of chance." About a dozen of the
			boys were detected playing "seven up" or "old sledge" for money, and the
			grand jury found a true bill against them. Jim Sturgis was retained to
			defend them when the case came up, of course. The more he studied over
			the matter, and looked into the evidence, the plainer it was that he must
			lose a case at last--there was no getting around that painful fact.
			Those boys had certainly been betting money on a game of chance. Even
			public sympathy was roused in behalf of Sturgis. People said it was a
			pity to see him mar his successful career with a big prominent case like
			this, which must go against him.

			But after several restless nights an inspired idea flashed upon Sturgis,
			and he sprang out of bed delighted. He thought he saw his way through.
			The next day he whispered around a little among his clients and a few
			friends, and then when the case came up in court he acknowledged the
			seven-up and the betting, and, as his sole defense, had the astounding
			effrontery to put in the plea that old sledge was not a game of chance!
			There was the broadest sort of a smile all over the faces of that
			sophisticated audience. The judge smiled with the rest. But Sturgis
			maintained a countenance whose earnestness was even severe. The opposite
			counsel tried to ridicule him out of his position, and did not succeed.
			The judge jested in a ponderous judicial way about the thing, but did not
			move him. The matter was becoming grave. The judge lost a little of his
			patience, and said the joke had gone far enough. Jim Sturgis said he
			knew of no joke in the matter--his clients could not be punished for
			indulging in what some people chose to consider a game of chance until it
			was proven that it was a game of chance. Judge and counsel said that
			would be an easy matter, and forthwith called Deacons Job, Peters, Burke,
			and Johnson, and Dominies Wirt and Miggles, to testify; and they
			unanimously and with strong feeling put down the legal quibble of Sturgis
			by pronouncing that old sledge was a game of chance.

			"What do you call it now?" said the judge.

			"I call it a game of science!" retorted Sturgis; "and I'll prove it,
			too!"

			They saw his little game.

			He brought in a cloud of witnesses, and produced an overwhelming mass of
			testimony, to show that old sledge was not a game of chance but a game of
			science.

			Instead of being the simplest case in the world, it had somehow turned
			out to be an excessively knotty one. The judge scratched his head over
			it awhile, and said there was no way of coming to a determination,
			because just as many men could be brought into court who would testify on
			one side as could be found to testify on the other. But he said he was
			willing to do the fair thing by all parties, and would act upon any
			suggestion Mr. Sturgis would make for the solution of the difficulty.

			Mr. Sturgis was on his feet in a second.

			"Impanel a jury of six of each, Luck versus Science. Give them candles
			and a couple of decks of cards. Send them into the jury-room, and just
			abide by the result!"

			There was no disputing the fairness of the proposition. The four deacons
			and the two dominies were sworn in as the "chance" jurymen, and six
			inveterate old seven-up professors were chosen to represent the "science"
			side of the issue. They retired to the jury-room.

			In about two hours Deacon Peters sent into court to borrow three dollars
			from a friend. [Sensation.] In about two hours more Dominie Miggles
			sent into court to borrow a "stake" from a friend. [Sensation.] During
			the next three or four hours the other dominie and the other deacons sent
			into court for small loans. And still the packed audience waited, for it
			was a prodigious occasion in Bull's Corners, and one in which every
			father of a family was necessarily interested.

			The rest of the story can be told briefly. About daylight the jury came
			in, and Deacon Job, the foreman, read the following:

			VERDICT:

			We, the jury in the case of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. John
			Wheeler et al., have carefully considered the points of the case,
			and tested the merits of the several theories advanced, and do
			hereby unanimously decide that the game commonly known as old sledge
			or seven-up is eminently a game of science and not of chance. In
			demonstration whereof it is hereby and herein stated, iterated,
			reiterated, set forth, and made manifest that, during the entire
			night, the "chance" men never won a game or turned a jack, although
			both feats were common and frequent to the opposition; and
			furthermore, in support of this our verdict, we call attention to
			the significant fact that the "chance" men are all busted, and the
			"science" men have got the money. It is the deliberate opinion of
			this jury, that the "chance" theory concerning seven-up is a
			pernicious doctrine, and calculated to inflict untold suffering and
			pecuniary loss upon any community that takes stock in it.

			"That is the way that seven-up came to be set apart and particularized in
			the statute-books of Kentucky as being a game not of chance but of
			science, and therefore not punishable under the law," said Mr. K-----.
			"That verdict is of record, and holds good to this day."

	1. poker is game of perceptive and representational skills beyond understanding odds, skills of play with the balance of power in an open field, skills of telling what's real and what's knot. When played in real life with real chips made of armies and weapons of mass destruction, poker becomes a game of life.

	2.		-THE END-

WikiSysop at 13:58, 23 March 2007

2007-03-23T13:58:29Z

New page

1. poker is game of perceptive and representational skills beyond understanding odds, skills of play with the balance of power in an open field, skills of telling what's real and what's knot. When played in real life with real chips made of armies and weapons of mass destruction, poker becomes a game of life.

2.

Is Poker a game of skill - Revision history

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