International Poker

While going to law school, I joined an organization called World Peace Through World Law, which primarily lobbied for an international code of laws that would apply to all countries. Many of us also promulgated having a world government (a real government as opposed to a gathering of nations). From what we see happening in the world around us today, would it not be better to have an international police force to clamp down on terrorist activity?

I once wrote a thesis that stated that in order to have a world government, we would need a world capital city. I then idealistically proposed to build a world capital city on some centrally located island, such as the Azores, where world leaders from each country would have an embassy and reside. Not only would these world leaders meet for governmental activities, but they would also meet socially and get to know each other – and become friends. Through the bonds of friendship, many of the cultural differences in the societies of the world could be addressed and resolved.

Note that world leaders who play tennis and/or golf together in the afternoon and perhaps bridge and/or poker after cocktails and dinner would probably get friendly with each other. Many of my present friends are people with whom I have played poker or bridge.

A good example of this occurred last year when I went to China on business and found myself playing in a small no-limit hold'em tournament in Beijing (see "Cappelletti in China," Card Player, April 9, 2004). With three players left, I called a small raise from the big blind with pocket threes. The flop came 6-4-2. I knew that if I checked, the raiser would make a sizable bet and I would be calling with most of my remaining chips (since she might well have just two overcards).

Since I had the least amount of chips, I chose to push in my stack, giving me the extra chance that she would fold. However, she chose to call me with her A-K and, unfortunately for me, caught a king on the river. Thus, I finished in third place. As I rose to leave, the other finalist, a Chinese businessman from Hong Kong who spoke excellent English, politely advised me that I had been overly aggressive with only a pair of threes. I explained that the blind and the raise had taken more than one-fourth of my chips and that I was essentially forced to take what I considered a good gamble.

He was a tight, aggressive player and he won the tournament just a few hands later. He then mentioned that he had read several of my columns, and we had a drink together at the bar. He asked me several very perceptive questions about the importance of very high cards versus very low cards when playing heads-up Omaha high-low.

Essentially, he asked me if an Omaha high-low starting hand containing A-K-3 was better or worse than a hand containing A-Q-2 when heads up. Otherwise put, is the king versus queen advantage more or less significant than the deuce versus 3 advantage.

The answer is that both of these "slick-low" hands play about the same against a random hand. But, if the two were matched against each other, the hand with the king would have a small advantage over the hand with the deuce. For example, an A-K-6-3 would be a slight favorite over an A-Q-5-2 heads up, but against several opponents, the A-Q-5-2 hand would be significantly better.

At some point in the conversation, he mentioned that most Americans he previously had met were "arrogant and acted like they owned the world." He had dealt mostly with American businessmen who were shrewd bargainers.

After playing poker and having a drink together, we were "friends," and therefore I probably could have negotiated or resolved some international problem or crisis with him much better than the American businessmen with whom he usually dealt. The power of friendship between men of goodwill might well end up saving the world.

In this new century, automation will probably continue to reduce the size of the work force, whereas the world's population will probably continue to grow (even if the rate of the growth is reduced). More humans will have more leisure time, so the importance of athletics, games, and international competitions will continue to increase.

Although poker's recent phenomenal growth and popularity will eventually peak, the game nonetheless has attained a place on the world stage, where just the television ratings and revenue alone justify the creation of an international poker administration – and well-organized annual international championship events. It is only a matter of time until poker and perhaps bridge and chess become "intellectual" Olympic games.