Poker in the information age

The Internet has changed the way people gather information, not to mention how easily people have access to information that before the World Wide Web was available only to industry insiders and experts, and armed with this information consumers are now able to quickly find the best prices on items and services -And there is no better example of this than online poker.

Prior to the Internet it would take quite some effort for a player to learn even the basic strategies of the game -which typically required tracking down an overpriced, out-of-print, poker book that would teach you a little something about starting hands and pot odds. Now a simple click of a mouse will not only provide you with this information, but exponentially more valuable and insightful poker strategies and theories for FREE! And for the cost of that over-priced book in the mid-90’s you can now join an online poker training site and learn some of the most cutting-edge strategies being employed at the poker tables.

So what does this mean for the typical poker player? Well, for one thing, up and coming poker players no longer have to figure things out for themselves, and the gap between a decent winning player and the average poker player has shrunk dramatically.

I have argued in the past that this is precisely what online poker sites want -an army of break-even players-who slowly lose money to the rake while passing it amongst themselves. In this way the poker sites will make the most money through the rake. But is this good or bad for poker?

In my opinion this is the worst thing that could have happened to poker, especially as well-known poker players looked to cash in on their fame and success before the chance passed them by. Basically, the long-term thinking poker players are cashing in on their short-term name recognition by divulging all of their secrets -basically making the next generation of poker players to fend for themselves.

This is why I never really had a problem with the “old-school” poker books which gave players some information, but only enough to make them predictable to winning players -of course a few of these players would be able to take this basic information and run with it, but for the most part the vast majority would just be ABC players.

The real reason this is bad for poker is that players no longer “press their luck” at the poker tables because they understand the game is one of skill, even if they don’t have the wherewithal to understand and make sense of the information they have gathered. Just knowing the information exists will make these players weary of participating in mid to high-stakes games against players they know to be sharks.