Steven Levitt: Measuring Skill Level in Poker

[captZEEbo]

[ QUOTE ]
Zeebo,
Wow I remember reading about him donking up a hand yesterday and I was wondering if that's really him. lol. Do you have the name of the project by any chance?

[/ QUOTE ]I'm not sure how accurate this site is, but I found it on google
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/ma...levitts_p.html

[talentdeficit]

whatever happened to all those pt databases he solicited a while back? did anything come of that?

[Victor]

cit, did you read his blog? he describes loving the action of gambling and feeling hungover(not from alcohol, from gambling) the next day.

being a degen has nothing to do with making +ev decisions. im a degen and i rarely take the worst of it, and never knowingly do.

i can really see this guy wasting his life away as a slave to the tables and cards. no big deal for some talentless slub like myself but this guy was obv very hard working with lots of unique ideas.

who cares if hes successful and makes a ton of money from poker. his potential in other areas is more beneficial and satisfying.

[csquard]

[ QUOTE ]
whatever happened to all those pt databases he solicited a while back? did anything come of that?

[/ QUOTE ]

From what he told me, it sounds like he's worked with the hand histories sent but now been able to convince an online site to give him access to a portion of their database. From my understanding, a major problem with the data he received was he didn't get donkey data, only hand histories from winning players.

[VayaConDios]

[ QUOTE ]
whatever happened to all those pt databases he solicited a while back? did anything come of that?

[/ QUOTE ]

He's probably been botting on FTP.

[NajdorfDefense]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Jesus christ, do any of you people understand tongue in cheek humour?

And Levitt went deep in the shootout event yesterday. He wrote about it in his blog this morning. He went out after defending his blind with K7 and called Phil Gordon one of poker's greatest teachers, so i'm a little skeptical of him right now.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Ya... I was a little disappointed in him after reading the bust out hand. Granted its heads up, so some pretty weird plays can be correct given the right circumstances, but it seems he played the hand pretty badly. Defend oop with K7o, donk the flop when you hit top pair, and go for a c/r (and call the 3 bet) on the turn with just TPNK on a scary board.

[/ QUOTE ]

Funny is how you can't spot the difference between tpnk and two pair. Oops.

And how his opponent had a draw and pushed after Levitt re-raised him twice and Levitt correctly called.

Maybe try reading slower next time.

[AllinDan]

[ QUOTE ]
who cares if hes successful and makes a ton of money from poker. his potential in other areas is more beneficial and satisfying.

[/ QUOTE ]

who cares if you think his potential in other areas is more satisfying (to him? to you?)? let him do whatever he wants. I don't understand how you could possibly think an economist playing poker is somehow "horrible" or "a waste" especially when you have no evidence that it stops him from doing other things.

edit: also fwiw Phil Gordon's little green book was a pretty good book for beginners, although I def agree he is a jackass.

[citanul]

[ QUOTE ]
cit, did you read his blog? he describes loving the action of gambling and feeling hungover(not from alcohol, from gambling) the next day.

being a degen has nothing to do with making +ev decisions. im a degen and i rarely take the worst of it, and never knowingly do.

i can really see this guy wasting his life away as a slave to the tables and cards. no big deal for some talentless slub like myself but this guy was obv very hard working with lots of unique ideas.

who cares if hes successful and makes a ton of money from poker. his potential in other areas is more beneficial and satisfying.

[/ QUOTE ]

v,

i read the blog. i read that part. i think that people can get a rush from gambling without falling victim to becoming a degenerate.

personally my definition of a degenerate would need to include either or both of:

1) constantly action seeking
2) frequently seeking high risk of ruin activity

i don't really understand what your definition is, perhaps you just want "someone who is all the time gambling and 'addicted' to it."

it is my understanding that while he enjoys poker and can get a rush from the gambling (btw, you of course realize there's a difference between the rush one gets from a situation like almost final tabling a wsop event and then getting bad beated out, with avg ft equity of 75k, and the rush of playing 1/2 nl online or whatever), but that he is in absolutely no danger of quitting his day job to chase the tournament circuit.

while i think that it is clear that he agrees that his potential is more beneficial both to society and himself, and satisfying to him, as an economist, honestly if he preferred to just make a ton of money at poker, that would be his business and his decision.

[Victor]

"
i don't really understand what your definition is, perhaps you just want "someone who is all the time gambling and 'addicted' to it."
"

pretty much. if someone spends all their time gambling (even if winning) then they are a degenerate imo.

"that would be his business and his decision. "

ya i didnt mean to be critical. i was simply mentioning my take of the situation. i dont give a fcxk what he does and dont think he SHOULD do anything.

[tmfs]

[ QUOTE ]
pretty much. if someone spends all their time gambling (even if winning) then they are a degenerate imo.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure your argument is just based on semantics and the definition of gambling. But for the most part you are completely wrong here.