Poker and Baseball

[sethypooh21]

I was reading Sports Illustrated this morning when I realised how much baseball and poker have in common. There is an enormous short term luck factor in baseball (anyone who's read Voros McCracken's stuff on pitching stats knows what I'm talking about), but over 162 games the best team wins.

Thoughts?

[JeffO]

I agree 100%. This is also the reason the best team doesn't always win the World Series. They have to get through 3 short series to win the whole thing. And in a 5 or 7 game series the best team doesn't always win.

[sethypooh21]

The best team sure as heck did win last year...


As they say in New England, wait til last year.

[junkmail3]

You said:
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I was reading Sports Illustrated this morning when I realised how much baseball and poker have in common.


[/ QUOTE ]

But I noticed that you only mentioned one thing. So I've compiled a few other similarities.

It's 9 against 1 at any given point, in baseball it's the rules, in online poker it's a conference call.

Oh, and sometimes you want to hit somebody with an object (usually a baseball in baseball and a bat in poker).

Uh, both have a world series. And free bubbly for the winner.

Sunglasses. Hats. Some teams play indoors, most poker players only play indoors.

Baseball is played in many cities. So is poker. Don't you think that's a little odd?

There are a few more suggestions for your list. I've already started on my poker and boxing list list, but they're mostly the same so far, except for the hats part.

[reddred]

So how many games do they have to make a playoff baseball series for you to feel like the best won......certainly seems alot more fluke proof than the NFL

[terrapin314]

[ QUOTE ]
So how many games do they have to make a playoff baseball series for you to feel like the best won......certainly seems alot more fluke proof than the NFL

[/ QUOTE ]

However, baseball does have one game playoffs to determine winners if they are tied heading into postseason. My Reds played one in 99 in which they flew in the night before and didn't arrive until 3-4 AM and played that afternoon. They were not their best.

Football has less variability in that the best team wins an individual game much more than baseball. If the Cardinals beat the Pats, it is an amazing upset. If the Brewers beat the Yankees in one game, it is not a big deal.

[trying2learn]

golf is similar like this as well (from variables such as wind and course condition variances from early to late tee times), but after the end of four days the best player comes out on top. i'd actually guess you could come up with many analogies for this in sport.

[Your Mom]

I agree. Baseball is a lot of luck. Fair or foul balls right down the line. Line drive rockets hit right at somebody. Little broken batters dropping in.

[midnight24]

Can't really compare baseball vs. poker...

What are the odds that you throw together a team of players (all age ranges) that play a little bit of baseball and put them against a Major League team. I would have to say that the Major league team would win 99.99% of the time, barring any force majeure.

Now throw a bunch of guys/gals who play a little bit of poker on the side into the WSOP, there's a much better chance that one of them can take down the tourney as history has shown.

right?

[2ndGoat]

My addition to the list is the deception factor. You can't always throw your best pitch in baseball because professional hitters would sit on it and destroy it*. Likewise in poker you must vary your play against astute opposition.

2nd

*yeah there are exceptions, like mariano rivera, but his cut fastball behaves vary differently from pitch to pitch, and he only pitches one inning. There are also knuckleballers like time wakefield but even they usually throw a fastball 5-10% of the time... and again, each knuckleball behaves vary differently from the last, if the pitcher is throwing well.