I just found an old note to myself to blog about this old Salon article called Requiem for a Poker Game. The author’s point is an interesting one: the current poker boom, fueled largely by the game’s presence on television and the internet, have also changed fundamentally the nature of the game. It used to be a much more social experience (the author claims- I wouldn’t know one way or the other) and in particular better social skills were required to succeed. Internet players such as myself have been able to master mathematical elements of the game by playing hundreds of thousands of hands and using computer programs to calculate equity and otherwise learn about complex concepts that were once acquired only through a long, often expensive apprenticeship.
This, according to the article, has fundamentally changed the way poker players perceive and interact with each other when they do meet face to face at the World Series and other big tournaments:
“The vast majority of new young players have primarily learned to play poker online. They have honed their skills with the aid of computer simulations and data mining — complex software programs that monitor the play of their opponents and provide a detailed categorization of each style of play. This new breed of successful players comes from the virtual arena; they are likely to spend most of their playing time either alone or with similarly inclined computer geeks. As people do in the digital community Second Life, players develop virtual personas, fictitious avatars and cartoonish social skills, and are seldom accountable for their behavior. Other players aren’t colleagues, comrades in crime or even casual social acquaintances; they are obstacles to be overcome on the way to the big score.”
The author’s take on the game is excessively nostalgic and more than a little simplistic, but it’s not without merit. One of the things that I love about the WSOP is the interesting people I meet and experiences that I have. But for the most part, I haven’t been able to replicate that in other live poker environments. Particularly in higher stakes games, I’m playing mostly with stone-faced twenty-somethings who rely on Ipods rather than conversation for their at-the-table entertainment.