What Are The Odds ?
Pokerstars are normally OK but I spotted this on an advert today :
"If the odds of winning the last WSOP main events were the same as cracking Aces with 10-2 offsuit, then PokerStars pulled the Doyle Brunson. Join PokerStars and join the community that has brought you the 2003, 2004 and 2005 WSOP champions!"
Erm, didn't you sign up the 2005 champion after he won it [1] ?
As soon as someone starts shouting the odds about something that's already happened, your bullshit radar should automatically start beeping. My favourite was a piece in a tabloid many years ago reporting that someone had walked into a casino at 12:12 am and put £12 on number 12, which had promptly obliged. The paper's "lottery expert" then opined that the odds against this were "millions and millions to one". I felt like writing in and saying I was going to walk into Johnny Black's casino wearing a black shirt and black trousers on Black Friday and put a black chip on black, and would he please give me 10-1 against it coming up ? A bargain compared to the true millions to one.
But there's no point talking to most people. As I saw on a forum this morning. I know, I had given up, but the Kill Phil forum is worth keeping an eye on for the authors' tournament reports, Blair Rodman's in particular being very interesting. The trouble is you start clicking on other threads to see what's up. Today the resident troll announced that he "couldn't wait for the lid to blow" on that old standby, Internet poker is bent, they rig bad beats to keep the game going. That's some pressure must have built up over what is it now, 6 years ? 8 ? How many billions of hands on Stars and Party alone ? Wow, when that lid finally does blow it's going to be a hell of a bang !! Tools.
[1] Hachem reportedly bought in to the main event "the old fashioned way", as did Dannenman.
"If the odds of winning the last WSOP main events were the same as cracking Aces with 10-2 offsuit, then PokerStars pulled the Doyle Brunson. Join PokerStars and join the community that has brought you the 2003, 2004 and 2005 WSOP champions!"
Erm, didn't you sign up the 2005 champion after he won it [1] ?
As soon as someone starts shouting the odds about something that's already happened, your bullshit radar should automatically start beeping. My favourite was a piece in a tabloid many years ago reporting that someone had walked into a casino at 12:12 am and put £12 on number 12, which had promptly obliged. The paper's "lottery expert" then opined that the odds against this were "millions and millions to one". I felt like writing in and saying I was going to walk into Johnny Black's casino wearing a black shirt and black trousers on Black Friday and put a black chip on black, and would he please give me 10-1 against it coming up ? A bargain compared to the true millions to one.
But there's no point talking to most people. As I saw on a forum this morning. I know, I had given up, but the Kill Phil forum is worth keeping an eye on for the authors' tournament reports, Blair Rodman's in particular being very interesting. The trouble is you start clicking on other threads to see what's up. Today the resident troll announced that he "couldn't wait for the lid to blow" on that old standby, Internet poker is bent, they rig bad beats to keep the game going. That's some pressure must have built up over what is it now, 6 years ? 8 ? How many billions of hands on Stars and Party alone ? Wow, when that lid finally does blow it's going to be a hell of a bang !! Tools.
[1] Hachem reportedly bought in to the main event "the old fashioned way", as did Dannenman.
8 Comments:
"Hachem reportedly bought in to the main event "the old fashioned way", as did Dannenman."
Laurie Butters?
Now that's OLD old school ...
Andy.
It's not an outright lie, more a case of them being economical with the truth with that ad. Hachem played at Pokerstars (who hasn't at some point though) although he didn't qualify via them last year.
It won't ever happen, but were I ever to enter the WSOP it would certainly be either "the old-fashioned way" or via super sats in Vegas. That way, if you do well, you get the money from the online sites on top (as Hachem did).
I wonder what "community" I'm in? Well, whichever one signs me up, I guess. But Stars says "the community that BROUGHT you the 2005 champion, which is not "economical with the truth", but a downright falsehood.
Still, that's marketing for you. Most marketing people at Stars, Party, and all the others don't know the first thing about poker anyway. Actually, I sometimes wonder if they know much about marketing.
I'm off to the Riverside Studios at Hammersmith tomorrow for some free canapés at Ladbrokes' expense and a bit of talent-spotting.
PJ
As soon as someone starts shouting the odds about something that's already happened, your bullshit radar should automatically start beeping.
Wildly off-topic, but this reminds of the "mathematician" who has thrown his weight behind the Intelligent Design argument with some hideous reasoning in relation to the probability of evolution happening.
Pete,
Maybe it's a typo. It was meant to say BOUGHT ?
Anon,
Pokerstars marketing from Intelligent Design is a little off-topic but there's nothing wrong with that, and yes it's the same kind of "reasoning" that I'm talking about.
Andy.
Reminds me of the tripe that was circulating when that bloke cheated on who wants to be a millionaire. I heard figures of 100 billion to one shot that he coughed at those exact moments.
Yeah but when you consider the cough that sounded like the word "No" maybe that one's not too far off.
What a gang of master criminals that lot were, hehe.
Andy.
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