Page 26 - May 2012 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
GSoing to MIT
everal months ago on the Gambling With an Edge radio show, poker writer Ed Miller was asked by Richard Munchkin how di cult it would be today for somebody just starting, to learn the skills of winning poker. Miller replied that it wouldn’t be that di cult.
At this point I responded, “Keep in mind that the guy who said it wasn’t too di cult has two degrees from MIT.” A man named “Dale” sent me an e-mail saying that his degree was from a no-name college in Iowa. He asked if I were implying that he couldn’t be a successful gambler?
and whose instruction was in their native language by compatriots who came here previously and did well in poker. Many successful gamblers adopt an “Aw, shucks” kind of demeanor, which disguises whatever intelligence they possess.
Certainly such things as a good memory and lots of study can make up for some intelligence. So can persistence in other areas, such as scouting, or waiting for just the right
Not at all.
MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is one of the top schools in the country, especially for math and sciences. e school year starting a few months ago had
18,000 applicants and 1,700 were admitted (both numbers rounded). About a third of the admittances had perfect 800 scores in the math portion of the SAT.
When somebody gets admitted to MIT we assume they are:
a. Very smart
b. Good at mathematical logic.
is is what we assume for incoming freshman at MIT. For someone who actually graduates from there, we can add:
c. Willing to study.
e successful gamblers I know tend to be:
emphasize math and science. I’m sure the top students in the Computer Science or
opportunity.
When I spontaneously
mentioned that Miller had two degrees from MIT, and that a ected his answer as to how hard learning to play poker competently would be, I was revealing my prejudice as to what makes a successful gambler. I have no strong data to back me up. It’s possible that things other than intelligence and mathematical aptitude are more important predictors of success. I just don’t know what they would be — and I have been looking.
And whether people would pick somebody like you to be a successful gambler is not at all the same as guaranteeing you can’t be a successful gambler. At the same time, there are lots of MIT graduates who have the right kind of smarts, but not the discipline
to stay away from games where they don’t have an edge.
Listen to Bob’s radio show Gambling With An Edge, on Thursday evenings 7 to 8 p.m. Pacific Time on radio station 1230 AM in Las Vegas online at klav1230am.com. Dancer’s products may be ordered at bobdancer.com or at 1-800-244-2224 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
a.
b.
c.
Of the students who graduate from MIT, approximately
“Whether people would pick somebody like you to be a successful gambler is not at all the same as guaranteeing you can’t be a successful gambler. At the same time, there are lots of MIT graduates who have the right kind of smarts, but not the discipline to stay away from games where they don’t have an edge.”
Very smart
Good at mathematical logic Willing to study.
Engineering departments
at any of the four-year
schools in Iowa have what
it takes intellectually to be
a professional gambler. e
students who barely got into
these departments probably
may not have what it takes.
(Barely getting into college
can re ect many things.
Sometimes it takes people
longer than their teens to
get things together.) With
the graduates in English or
Political Science, it could
go either way. e type
of intelligence required to
do well in these elds is
usually not mathematical in nature, although there are de nitely some English professors who are accomplished at mathematics as well.
Many successful gamblers don’t have any college at all, let alone a degree. Most of these people, however, have a lot of “street smarts.” ey would score well on the right sort of IQ test — although the test might have to be in a language other than English. Speaking English well is not a requirement at all to be a successful gambler. ere have been a large number of successful Vietnamese poker players, some of whom still haven’t mastered English,
100% of them have the intellectual skills and study habits to become professional gamblers — should they wish to do so. ( ere are lots of personality skills required as well, such as willingness to take a risk, and willingness to devote your life to nothing more than the pursuit of money. We’re neglecting those for now.) Relatively few of these graduates choose to go into gambling, which is likely a very good thing. Our society runs better if our smartest members do useful things with their smarts.
I’m not sure which no-name school in Iowa Dale was referring to. Some are better than others, and most don’t
PAGE 26
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
MAY 2012