Betting against David Sklansky in an Intelligence Test for 25K

Is David Sklansky more intelligent than the world's best poker players? Would you bet on it?

Link
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
"Wow, that's a big call. There's a notable lack of WSOP bracelets, especially recent ones. The fact that he wrote an excellent book analysing poker doesn't make him the most intelligent poker player. And it's not even close.

But that's beside the point. Great story."

[/ QUOTE ]

First I hope everyone realizes that WASN"T me.

As to your other point let me know when you want to pick anyone who has more bracelets than me to take the GRE Aptitude Test against me for a bet of 25K. You choose from among a hundred or so players. You can also choose whether we compete on only the math or the combined score. You can also choose whether we have the full time allotted on the math or any other fraction of YOUR choice. And if you don't choose Chris Ferguson I'll lay 6to 5.

[/ QUOTE ]

The conditions of the bet appear to be:

- GRE General Aptitude Test against David Sklansky
- The opponent must have at least 4 WSOP bracelets.
- 25K, laying 6:5 if I don't pick Chris Ferguson
- You can pick just the math section, or total score.

He claims there are around 100 players who fit these criteria, I count 25

Does anyone take this bet? Who's a worthy candidate?

[AJo Go All In]

i think the best bet would be chris ferguson even money, but i wouldn't take it

[Jordan Olsommer]

[ QUOTE ]

Does anyone take this bet? Who's a worthy candidate?

[/ QUOTE ]

None of them except Jesus Ferguson, it would seem.

Although I would lay money on any of the following propositions:

- Sklansky vs. Hellmuth, Chair-throwing contest (distance in meters)
- Sklansky vs. Scotty Nguyen, Number of Times Participant Can Say "Baby" In One Minute
- Sklansky vs. Stu Ungar, Who is Less Alive? [I'd be willing to lay up to 10-to-1 on this one]
- Sklansky vs. TJ Cloutier, Sumo Wrestling (best of three)
- Sklansky vs. Phil Ivey, Overall Blackness (to be determined by a panel of blackness experts)

But the bet, as stated, doesn't seem all that great - if you had the pick of the litter of anybody on the tournament trail (or possibly anybody who has won >= 1 bracelet), I'm sure you could find some savant for whom the contest wouldn't even be close. As stated, though, I reckon the only one worth putting your money on would be Ferguson.

[MaxPower]

The GRE isn't an intelligence test and I'm sure Sklansky knows that. I would guess Sklansky could beat almost all of those 25 since most of them are out of practice in solving the type of problems on the test.

[TheWorstPlayer]

[ QUOTE ]
I would guess Sklansky could beat almost all of those 25 since most of them are out of practice in solving the type of problems on the test...

[/ QUOTE ]
...whereas David sits around doing GRE-type problems all day long.

[ QUOTE ]
The GRE isn't an intelligence test and I'm sure Sklansky knows that. I would guess Sklansky could beat almost all of those 25 since most of them are out of practice in solving the type of problems on the test.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree, it's strongly biased toward math skills and acquired verbal reasoning, both of which are well developed as a poker author. I said as much in the other thread. Still, surely one of these players has enough of these to take him on [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

[Ghazban]

The GRE math portion was a joke; I aced it without studying, preparing, or not being hungover when I was applying to grad schools. I'd be very surprised if DS couldn't ace it almost every single time, too, thereby making him more or less unbeatable.

Maybe the GRE has gotten tougher in the past 5 years....

[slickpoppa]

The GRE math test is a bad test to use because it is too easy to get a perfect score.

[slickpoppa]

He doesn't have more bracelets that Sklansky, but I would take Chip Reese in that bet.

[TheWorstPlayer]

How many bracelets does Greenstein have? And to the poster who said he would take Chip Reese...if you weren't limited by the fact that they had to have at least 4 bracelets, you would take CHIP REESE? Is that the smartest person you can think of?!