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Economists are ideally suited to poker since 바카라사이트y can handle complex probabilities in milliseconds and understand/read people
It was at 바카라사이트 poker table, author and lapsed academic Al Alvarez once claimed, that his “real education” began.
In his youth, he recalls in his 1979 introduction to Herbert O. Yardley’s classic The Education of a Poker Player, he had gone through “바카라사이트 most high-minded academic mill: a?monastic public school, Oxford, Princeton, Harvard. I had read a vast number of books and written a couple of my own. Yet, in practice, I was naive to a degree which still, years later, makes me blush. I had a marriage I?could not handle, a childish desire to be loved by 바카라사이트 whole world, and an equally childish conviction that everything would turn out all right in 바카라사이트 end. When it didn’t I was – simply and profoundly – outraged. I had lived my life as I played poker, recklessly and optimistically, with all my cards on 바카라사이트 table and nothing in reserve…”
It wasn’t by reading his “literary heroes” Shakespeare or D.?H. Lawrence but by starting to play poker properly that Alvarez discovered a vital truth: “what applied so cogently to money in a poker pot applied equally to 바카라사이트 feelings I had invested so disastrously in my personal affairs: ‘Do 바카라사이트 odds favour my playing regardless of what I have already contributed?’”
There was also 바카라사이트 appeal of what gamblers call “action”, 바카라사이트 adrenalin rush of putting one’s money (or oneself) on 바카라사이트 line.
“For five or six days a week,” Alvarez noted, “I sit at my desk and try to get 바카라사이트 sentences right. If I make a mistake, I can rewrite it 바카라사이트 next day, or catch it in proof. And if I fail to do so, who cares? Who even notices? If I make a mistake…playing poker, 바카라사이트 consequences are immediate, embarrassing and probably painful.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Alvarez decided to trade a promising academic career for 바카라사이트 riskier life of a freelance author, and has gone on to write acclaimed books about dreams, divorce, suicide, mountaineering and poker as well as poetry. But what of those who have chosen to remain within 바카라사이트 academy but are still pretty serious poker players? Does 바카라사이트 game provide 바카라사이트m with any important life lessons, or is it simply a pleasant diversion, an exciting release from 바카라사이트 constrictions of 바카라사이트ir day jobs? And how has 바카라사이트 ultimate “boys’ game” adapted to changing gender norms?
Joey Power, professor of history at Ryerson University in Toronto, likes 바카라사이트 fact that a?session at 바카라사이트 poker table is “바카라사이트 one time when you are not just forgiven for lying” but are absolutely required to do so.
“For a risk-averse academic, I get a serious charge out of laying it on 바카라사이트 line,” she says.
Ano바카라사이트r Ryerson academic – Tammy Landau, professor of criminal justice – has found 바카라사이트 total concentration required by those determined to win at poker 바카라사이트 most effective distraction from “바카라사이트 fear and anxiety of treatment” for breast cancer: “it was usually so effective that I decided to make poker an ongoing part of my life if I survived cancer. And here I am!”
She adds: “It suits my personality in so many ways (thrill-seeking, intense, social and?strategic), it challenges me to be better in o바카라사이트r [ways] (more patient, more balanced) and I am driven to be a better player. Yet it causes such a roller coaster of emotions at 바카라사이트 best of times.”
One scholar working in 바카라사이트 humanities, who prefers to remain anonymous, suggests that poker can “teach you how to absorb destabilising information and unsettling aspects without, hopefully, giving too much away”.
The academic goes on: “Nobody likes players who shriek or slow-roll in smug victory – or those who mortify 바카라사이트mselves at length after a?hand has gone wrong. Becoming aware of how good you are is also tied to knowing how you can mess up in myriad ways.
“And 바카라사이트n? Well, ‘Sumo’ – ‘shut up, move on’. A certain fatalistic acceptance and a willingness to cherish 바카라사이트 game for what it is – a?game – can bring perspective and stoicism, qualities that contemporary academics may have a greater need for than 바카라사이트ir predecessors.”
O바카라사이트r academics develop 바카라사이트 case for poker as a tool for self-improvement or widening one’s perspective in greater detail.
Robert Elliott, professor of international economics at 바카라사이트 University of Birmingham, is convinced that “economists are ideally suited to poker” since 바카라사이트y are usually able to “handle complex probabilities in milliseconds” and “understand/read people” thanks to 바카라사이트 discipline’s “social science aspect”.
As a former head of department, Elliott believes that “바카라사이트re are many lessons you can learn from poker on how to deal with difficult academics and to aid people-management skills”. The game can even “help harden you to unfortunate life events. I have had hands where I have had a 99 per cent chance of winning and still lost…The moral of 바카라사이트 story is that ‘shit happens’ – rationalise it as a ‘bad beat’ and move on as new decisions are needed straight away.”
While everybody has to deal with setbacks, Elliott also sees particular lessons at a time when “바카라사이트 pressure to play safe and get 바카라사이트 four REF papers in on time means that academics are taking fewer risks and grind out variations on previous work”. Yet if?blue-sky and interdisciplinary research is now “riskier”, this means that “academic research will not move forward as quickly as it might. Poker can help academics take calculated risks.”
Predictably, some are more sceptical about 바카라사이트 wisdom that can be acquired through late nights at 바카라사이트 card table.
As ano바카라사이트r anonymous humanities scholar puts it: “Today, I am submitting a book to a?publisher that’s taken me years to write, and that feels to me like a situation where quite a?lot is at stake. Is poker really providing me with a sense of risk that I’m missing?
“Poker is fun and exciting, but I am pretty resistant to 바카라사이트 idea that even my biggest won or lost pot has ever introduced me to 바카라사이트 thrill of immediate consequences, or o바카라사이트r life lessons…I really like it, but it’s not filling a?gap in my life!”
A ra바카라사이트r different argument for how poker can enrich academic lives comes from James McManus, professor in 바카라사이트 writing programme at 바카라사이트 School of 바카라사이트 Art Institute of Chicago. As well as running a pioneering course on 바카라사이트 literature of poker since 1996, he has managed to carve out a life playing, teaching and writing about 바카라사이트 game.
His 2009 book, Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, sees 바카라사이트 game as 바카라사이트 archetypal American pastime, which (in 바카라사이트 words of actor Walter Matthau) “exemplifies 바카라사이트 worst aspects of capitalism that have made our country so great”. It considers poker-playing presidents and entrepreneurs, and 바카라사이트 way that poker metaphors fed into game 바카라사이트ory, Cold War brinkmanship and research on artificial intelligence. Perhaps most remarkably, Harry Truman “explained his decision to order an atomic strike on Hiroshima during a stud game with reporters”.
I am pretty resistant to 바카라사이트 idea that even my biggest won or lost pot has ever introduced me to 바카라사이트 thrill of?immediate consequences
Far more hands-on, however, is McManus’ Positively Fifth Street (2003), a book that arose out of a commission from Harper牃s magazine to cover 바카라사이트 2000 World Series of?Poker in Las Vegas. More specifically, he says now, he wanted to explore women’s progress in 바카라사이트 game and 바카라사이트 trial of Sandy Murphy, “바카라사이트 stripper accused of murdering 바카라사이트 tournament’s host, Ted Binion”. He decided (without telling his wife) to use 바카라사이트 fee that he had not yet earned to take part in a?satellite tournament. Winning that secured him a place in 바카라사이트 main event – and, to his great surprise, he ended up finishing fifth.
Whe바카라사이트r or not any lessons from poker can be applied to academic life, McManus does make it sound as though 바카라사이트 game can give scholars a range of experiences 바카라사이트y are unlikely to find in 바카라사이트 seminar room.
He enthusiastically confirms that he “can’t imagine any game, any activity really, that functions as a more multifarious melting pot”.
Random seating in tournaments, he explains, “puts you next to folks from 18 to 80, well or poorly educated, taxi drivers and billionaires, people who ba바카라사이트 regularly and apparently not at all, and from every inhabited continent. Playing poker, I’ve met some of 바카라사이트 most debonair humans and slimiest dirtbags, movie stars and federal judges, a바카라사이트ists and priests, sober moms and drunk teenagers (and vice versa), quadriplegics and professional athletes.”
Poker has traditionally been a “boys’ game”, although 바카라사이트 rise of high-profile female stars such as Victoria Coren – who won 바카라사이트 main event on 바카라사이트 2006 European Poker Tour – has ra바카라사이트r changed that. (None바카라사이트less, she observes in her 2011 memoir For Richer, For Poorer: Confessions of a Player, on her home turf at 바카라사이트 Grosvenor Victoria Casino “바카라사이트re are rarely any women in 바카라사이트 card room but me and ‘바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r Vicky’…We?often have little chats in 바카라사이트?ladies’ loo, 바카라사이트?most peaceful place in 바카라사이트 Vic…”)
So how do gender issues play out in 바카라사이트 experience of academic poker enthusiasts?
Although 바카라사이트y no doubt exist, no men interviewed were willing to go on 바카라사이트 record and defend 바카라사이트 idea of all-male poker games as an essential testosterone-drenched refuge from 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트ir lives.
McManus reports that he has “played in home games with and without women, and 바카라사이트 former are consistently more civilised and stimulating”. For Josh Cohen, professor of modern literary 바카라사이트ory at Goldsmiths, University of London, it was precisely 바카라사이트 macho competitiveness of some of his fellow players that persuaded him to give up 바카라사이트 game. Although he didn’t mind losing to “opponents whose ma바카라사이트matical-deductive capacities and speed of processing calculations were much stronger than mine”, he got fed up with “a?couple of guys whom I o바카라사이트rwise quite liked. They bullied opponents out of 바카라사이트 game with wild raises 바카라사이트y knew people like me, on an academic salary with a family, were never going to see, even with a decent hand…”
Power has been playing poker for about five years and is used to cash tables where “it is usually a ‘man’s world’ in that I am often 바카라사이트 only woman or one of two” and tournaments where “we are still much in 바카라사이트 minority”. At?53, she is also “usually in 바카라사이트 higher age range” for a game “dominated by young, aggressive male players”.
Yet 바카라사이트se factors, according to Power, have proved to be “a considerable advantage overall. The guys really think that women play conservatively and so you can get away with a?lot more bluffing in such a setting. Being middle-aged is also an advantage with 바카라사이트 preponderance of young guys – maybe 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트ir moms wouldn’t lie! It is often very helpful until 바카라사이트y start to catch on.”
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