The Information War

// The Information War
// December 21, 2010 at 2:59 AM
http://charleshorse.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/the-information-war

LIVE POKER is the pure game. online poker can be described as a vast laboratory in which to test out one’s personal theory of profitable poker – a realistic simulation. it has the advantage of allowing the player to experience hands at a highly accelerated rate: about twice as many per hour, multiplied by each additional simultaneous table!

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tonight at dinner, a friend - without experience in poker - asked me about the 'poker face' angle of the game, which I took to mean the concept of spotting physical 'tells' in your opponent's facial expressions and/or body lingo, ideally providing helpful clues to deciphering their hidden cards (or more realistically: their state of mind).

this is an aspect of the game which is widespread throughout pop culture, I would argue, because it is something that lends itself to being portrayed in film, tv and song. think of paul newman stone-cold bluffing all his money with junk cards in cool hand luke or kenny rogers' iconic ode to 'the gambler' who had made his

life out of readin' people's faces
and knowing what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.

bottom line: poker can be summed up as an 'information war' in which, to have any success in the long term, a player must take in way more than they give off - must have information surplus, not deficit. so, whether I face a given opponent online or in person, my (dual) task remains the same:

1. make effective use of all info at my disposal
2. do my best not to let my own play fall into any detectable patterns.

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