Blue Diamonds

Why Poker Should be Legal in the US

For those who are not yet in the know, Absolute Poker has come under fire in the most significant online poker room scandal ever. It is suspected that an insider had access to an account that showed cards of all players at the table, and the insider used that information to swindle mostly high-limit pros out of an estimated $700,000.

But for now, forget about that. There is still hope for poker yet. So here’s an essay published last month on all the benefits of playing poker.

“Poker is good for you”

by David Sklansky & Alan N. Schoonmaker, Ph.D.

Many people have argued that poker should be considered differently from gambling in general. This argument has been made in discussions of legalization and related topics. Their argument is usually that poker is a skill game, while other gambling games are much less dependent upon skill.

We agree, but believe that they have not gone far enough in explaining many of poker’s unique attributes. Poker does not just require skill. It demands and develops many skills and personal qualities which are essential for making all types of decisions, such as choosing a career, investing money, performing a job, and buying a house.¹

POKER IS A GREAT TEACHER.

Research clearly proves that people tend to repeat rewarded actions and to discontinue punished ones. Poker teaches by rewarding desirable actions such as thinking logically and understanding other people and by punishing undesirable ones such as ignoring the odds and acting impulsively.² Other learning principles also apply to poker.

Learning Depends Upon Feedback.

Rewards and punishments are valuable feedback. The faster and clearer the feedback is, the more rapidly you will learn. Unfortunately, for learning many desirable qualities the feedback cycle is slow or unclear. For example, if you make a mistake with an important customer, you may never know why you lost his business. At the poker table you often get much quicker feedback. Continue Reading Why Poker Should be Legal in the US…