Poker News Round-Up for Aug. 20
by Bodog Poker | Aug 20 2010
Massachusetts
A professor at Wellesley College has been researching how people make decisions while under pressure and discovered that poker was a perfect way to simulate the stress associated. However, his research revealed something very surprising to many poker players: the “poker face” that we all work so assiduously to maintain is actually the worst to use, at least during the first few times that players are forced to make a decision against you.
Dr. Erik Schlict and his team of scientists and researchers used a computer that displayed facial expressions as it played poker against you. When the computer showed players a more “trustworthy” face, they were more likely to fold and let the computer win a given hand. Players were likely to call or even raise when playing against the computer when it displayed a unemotional “poker face.” The research was designed to get a sense of how people respond to biological cues when making decisions against other people. However, Schlicht warned that the “trustworthy” face strategy could only go so far: “You might be able to fool someone for a few hands, but probably not much longer."
This actually coincides with many player experiences and is the logic behind the creation of the poker face in general: players expect to play against people at the same level and will assume that any facial expressions are part of a strategy. It is unclear whether or not the people playing against the face-displaying computer in Schlicht's research were familiar enough with the game to react as a real world player would.
Berlin
The two men held as ringleaders in the March raid of a Berlin poker tournament went to trial this week in Germany. Mohammed Abou Charka and Ibrahim al Moussa led a group of four other men into a European Poker Tour event being held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Berlin and made off with €242,000 ($312,000) in cash after threatening the assembled players and staff. The four other robbers have already been convicted of bodily harm and robbery and are testifying against the duo. If convicted, Abou Charka and al Moussa will be facing up to fifteen years in a state prison. As of this writing, only about €4,000 had been recovered and none of the men involved in the daring daylight raid have stated where the rest of the money is located.
Los Angeles, CA
Mesbah Khaffaji earned himself a time-out and visit to the local police station after losing a hand of no limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker and taking out his frustration on the dealer. According to witnesses, Khaffaji threw his cards down on the table, stood up and then spat a mouthful of food into the face of the dealer working at the time, covering their glasses. He was promptly grabbed by casino security and got to talk to local police. Brendand Kirkpatrick of the Bell Gardens Police Department said of the incident any precedents: "Is it often? No. Does it happen? Yes. People get heated. Large sums of money lost; people can't control their emotions." Khaffajj was released on $20,000 bail and will be seeing a judge very soon.
