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MIT Poker Theory Course

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Students enrolled in the Spring semester at MIT will have the opportunity to take a Poker Theory course. MIT Ph.D student Will Ma proposed and was awarded a 3 week class focusing on poker strategy. With the aftermath of the online poker industry falling, Will Ma has been anxious to talk more about poker. Since most people agree that Poker is a game of skill and not chance, there is a lot of interest in the academic community according to Ma.

Ma says that one of the most difficult concepts to overlap from the academic world to the poker world is the concept of if something works, keep trying it again. In poker, that line of thinking could get you in a lot of trouble. You have to be able to discern when you may have gotten lucky and if that’s the case, you may not want to repeat that play again.

Ma does mention that it is difficult to separate the concept of money from the poker class. he is not allowed to advocate that people can make money from the game and potentially leave school, etc. It would be nice to learn from a poker pro how to move up in stakes games or build a bankroll but alas he is not allowed to mention anything on those subjects. It would seem to reason that anyone going to MIT would be a highly successful poker player if they were to head out on their own.

I find it very interesting that an institution like MIT is embracing a game like poker. Again, poker is a game of skill and really should be treated that way. I hope that partnerships with the academic world will help strengthen this concept. If poker is legally proven to be a game of skill and not chance, then we stand a better chance of having online poker back in the United States.

You can read the article here: MIT Course, Poker Theory

Poker Players still in Debt to Full Tilt

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As the dismantling of Full Tilt Poker continues, it has come out that top poker pros owe Full Tilt money. This is no doubt one of the privileges that come with being a poker pro. I have no doubt that the players were staked in exchange for their play and visibility on the site.

According to an article on Card Player.com it is alleged that 6 poker pros owe Full Tilt about $18 million dollars. And in a sense they owe that money to the players who still haven’t gotten their funds back from Full Tilt. According to the article, Phil Ivey, Layne Flack, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, and David Benyamine all owe differing amounts to Full Tilt.

Greenstein for his part, posted a reply on the Poker Forum 2+2. I have a feeling we may not hear from the others and frankly we don’t have to hear from them. I appreciate Barry’s willingness to come forward and discuss the issue. I do think his response lacks a little in that he mentions the US players and the money that is due to them. I think Barry should be backing and supporting all of the players as from what I understand all of the money is frozen, not just for the US based players.

The whole Full Tilt situation really strikes the nail on the fact that online poker and gambling for that matter, needs regulation. I know, the last thing we need is the government in our business but at the end of the day the only way to play is if you pay. I don’t have a problem paying taxes on my poker winnings as long as I know that the platforms I’m playing on are secure and safe. It really sucks when players are out thousands and possible hundreds of thousands of dollars because it was placed with a risky off-shore business. I know we’re at risk of the corporate fat cats running the online poker industry (MGM, Harrah’s, etc.) but sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.