Published as a Separate in the Journal of Hold’em Poker 1995, 74, 91-200.

EFFECTS OF CARD SHARKS ON THURSDAY NIGHT POKER PLAYERS¹

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of novice one time a week poker players while observing them while playing Texas Hold’em with professional poker players. During a 12 week period of playing poker three times a week (A session lasting 5 hours) the novice players will be observed while playing their games to see if their skill level increases because of playing with professionals or if they lose horribly. During this study 20 novice Ss will be used and 5 pro players.

There is no real type of poker. There are many varieties ranging from stud poker to hold’em games. Each games betting is different and each game takes a large amount of skill. It is believed that poker is not just gambling but a skill game. And this is why there are two separate groups of card players.
The pro’s. Those who most sit in at a regular card game and usually have a good size bankroll. And then to the second group. The novice players. The ones who dream of fortune and those who play only a few times a week with the same five to eight guys. There games lasting only a few hours where pros may but in at eight o’clock and stop early in the morning. This is not true of all pros. Chann (2) a winner of the World Series of Poker does not practice like the normal pros. He protects his money while he has it. And only plays in the big games. But it is shown that the more someone practices something the better they become. Empirical studies have substantiated these beliefs in part. Chann (2) found that while playing the game you feel immune and that no one can touch you. That is why most novice players become broke quickly because of their feeling of immunity. Another pro card player Brunson (1) feels the same way in his experiences and enjoys taking large pots off the novice. The purpose of this study was to examine to effects of novice poker players while playing the pros.

B.Method
1.Subjects

Ss were 20 male poker players who are of average ability. And 5 professional poker players.

2.Measuring Instruments

a. Poker players Bible. Developed by Lenny Murphy (3) in 1990. This book includes all the games of poker and activities and tests to boost a card players game. Before the tests were done each Ss read the book and did the exercises and test to help their chances of winning greater.
b.Johnny Chann’s Guide to Bluffing. This book teaches the players how to bluff a good for nothing hand. It also teaches the Ss to play the man and not always the cards. And like the other book the Ss were tested and read the book before the study.

3. Procedure

During the summer of 1990 forty card players of average skill read the two books listed at the top and were tested. The twenty that had an eighty or higher on a written test made it to the actual study. The players that were selected to participate in the experiment were randomly assigned to one controlled group and one experimental group. The experimental group contained five novice card players and then five pro card players. And the controlled group was the rest of the players. The basic idea was to have our subjects play three times a week for five hour sessions and to see how much money was lost during the experiment. And also who took it. If the pro. card players have a higher percentage of taking pots off the novice then it would seem that the novice players were unable to increase there skills. This experiment does take time. So the process of this experiment will last several months. We take this long because playing poker is not all luck, it takes a certain amount of skill and since skill is a gradual tool we are giving adequate time. And after three weeks of playing all of the Ss (including the professionals) will look back at their notes and skim or if they choose re-read the books that were assigned to them prior to the start of the tests. We hope that this will refresh their memories of certain skills that are highly crucial to the success or the failure of the Ss. And after a three week period the Ss looked over their notes and for the record and to make a point at the end of the testing most of the 20 novice Ss re-read their books.
So after the forth week huge changes were found in the novice Ss. They began to win more and use certain skills that were identical to which the pro Ss were using. Which gave them a run for their money. And confused the pros. The tables did turn but not without a cost. The study tended to show that the novice seemed to play as pros. And loose as pros. About five of the twenty players lost almost all of their money due to their big heads. So some conclusions say that the novice did get better but they were not unstoppable.
The pro. Ss also read all of the books that were assigned to them. Yet it seemed not to do any good due to the fact that the information for them was old unlike the novice in which it was new and able to forget so having to refresh was almost necessary. So change in the players was almost likely. After three months of the continuous playing and the re-reading of books the novice became very wealthy and the pro Ss considered them an equal player meaning the skill level was almost all on the same level.
At the end of four months of playing it was clear of all our results.

C.Results And Discussion

There was an obvious increase of skill in the novice Ss poker players and that was not suspected. The control group was just novice poker players and experimented some success but no real significance. And the other group learned more in a period of time then any of the others.
Further studies may explore the concept of poker players abilities before the studies begin and teaching newer more fresher games that all of the players need to learn. The tests are not easy to preform and take a lot of work. And there is no real way to test how much the players improved. Except for a large test that contained all of the slang and all of the tricks of the trade in a game. And taking the average of the scores. And with this it is concluded that this study helped to improve novice players skill level and winning level.

References

Brunson, Doyle. Poker player in relation to PJ (poker journal) in teaching and playing,1972,12,4432-4433.

Chann, Johnny. Johnny Chann’s Guide to Bluffing. Las Vegas, Nevada. Recording tests, 1989.

Murphy, Lenny. Poker Players Bible. New York: Chann Books 1972.

Slim, Amarillo. Relationship between Poker Players Journal and selected playing traits, 1965,36,2-3

¹ Received as a separate in the Editorial office on April 27,1993, and published immediately at Las Vegas,Nevada. Copyright by the Journal Press.

² This experiment was supported in part by a Research Project granted to Johnny Chann, Amarillo Slim and Tim Marquis by Yale University.