Thinking of Playing against Professional Poker Player? Read this

Here’s the deal:

The average poker professional probably plays between 8,000 hands to 20,000 hands per month, while the average avid amateur probably plays between 2,000 hands to 3,000hands per month. In terms of experience, you can easily see that a pro gains at the very least 4 times of experience compared to the rest of us.


Consider this equation, albeit a crude one, :

Results = Natural Intelligence + Luck + Experience


Luck probably evens out in the long-run for most of us, of course there are always those sick oddies that seem to strike the lottery every other day, but we discount that. Just joking… but seriously, I revere the part regarding luck… cos I think most of us who are able to read this are already so much luckier than those who can’t… so we really shouldn’t complain (but that is for another writing).

Experience. What is Experience? In this context, it means engaging on the real battleground, it also means hard work – those who play longer and think harder and study and learn harder gain more experience than those who slag.

The Natural Intelligence part, we inherit from our ancestors, thus we have no control. Even if I have an IQ of say 150 and am an amateur, I am probably (some would argue most certainly) going to lose to a pro with an IQ of 100. Simply due to Experience (and I remind readers again that includes hard work).

So now you know when you are up against 1 pro at a full table of 10 players, your chances of winning are actually not as good as you think. Your winnings, if you do win, will probably come from players of the same rank as you who are playing poorer than you. If you happen to be at a table with 3 or more pros, your chances of winning is virtually a big fat zero.

Now, here comes the phenomenon that only occurs in human society. Even against seemingly insurmountable odds, we still like to take our chances. Just look at the queues at lottery outlets and the total income of $70 million worth of entrance fees collected thus far from the casinos and you will understand what I mean.

In poker terms, even against 3 pros, I’d still like to take my chances. Hell, I’d bet that anyone worth half-ounce of salt in poker would jump at the chance of playing at the table with Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Tom Dwan, Gus Hansen and Barry Greenstein. That is if they are willing to play at my stakes level…. Yeah.. wishful thinking… I need at least usd 100g just to sit down… And just in case you haven’t realised by now, the above scenario is virtually 100% death wish.

Yup, that is how sick poker avids are.