Re: What is the link between poker and backgammon/chess/bridge?
Lot of good answers in this thread so far. To briefly, reiterate some highlights: the doubling cube in backgammon is a whooole lot like raise/fold decisions in poker; bluffing is overrated in popular opinion of poker, and underrated in bridge; all three games have a big element of estimating chances of things on the fly.
And then there's there is the one REALLY big point, which AlanBostick has finally touched on:
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The connection between poker and the other games is that poker provides an opportunity for dedicated game-players to earn something resembling a steady income.
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Biinnnnngo. Poker is where da money is at.
I've been giving bridge lessons for almost ten years, directed at a local club for awhile, etc etc, known regionally as an expert but not nationally -- and, in my best season, bridge was 10% of my income. If I lived in a big city, it could have been maybe 25%.
And six months after I played my first hand of 25/50 cent limit poker on the internet, I was making more money from poker than I ever had from bridge. I am no expert at poker yet; I don't honestly think the game is anything close to as much fun as bridge and backgammon are. But it's not a bad way to spend the evenings I don't have a bridge game, and the money is nice.
Take a look in your history books, folks. Bridge was where the money was at in the 1950s, and backgammon in the 70s. Look no further for an explanation for why the bridge pros got good at backgammon then, and why the backgammon pros are getting good at poker now.
Incidentally ... about the analogy between SnG strategy and a chess game. Interesting thing. I've never been able to stand chess. Feels like a big boring game of tic-tac-toe to me, honestly. Just a matter of taste.
In bridge I prefer duplicate to rubber, and matchpoint to IMP scoring, because it puts every deal on an equal footing. It is no coincidence that I like limit better than NL, and ring games better than tournaments -- formats where a few big hands determine the outcome of the whole event.
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