Dutch Professor Challenges Poker's Chance Classification with Formula

This past Friday, Professor Ben van der Genugten, an expert in probability and mathematical statistics, challenged the Dutch Supreme Court's classification of poker as a game of chance, citing how a formula he co-developed and is used by the courts pegs poker at a higher skill level than most fantasy sports, which the court rules are a game of skill. Because of this inconsistency, the Professor is calling for the court to revoke the classification of poker as a game of chance.

The timing of this challenge may greatly affect the outcome of an upcoming trial of two people who were arrested for organizing a poker tournament in the Dutch town of Bussum in 2007, which is believed to be the first poker trial in the Netherlands since the Supreme Court decided ten years ago that poker is a game of chance.

Van der Genugten has been actively involved in the application of the Dutch Betting & Gaming Act, and his formula has been used in court to determine the classification of fantasy sports games, reports Gaming Intelligence Group. However, the same formula has not been applied to poker.

Van der Genugten has appeared as an expert witness in a number of cases, and has also participated in an experiment broadcast on Dutch TV to determine the skill ratio of Texas Hold'em.

Because of his expert witness status and the courts using his formula, Professor Van der Genugten's challenge to change poker's classification to a game of skill has been quickly picked up by Dutch media, leading to calls by the Liberal Party on Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin to issue a statement regarding the possibility of reviewing the Supreme Court's classification.

THE FORMULA

Van der Genugten, along with Peter Borm, Professor of mathematics and game theory, developed a formula which establishes a skill value or skill ratio, the relation between the chance effect and the learning effect of a game. The smaller the role of chance, the higher the skill value.

According to their formula, the learning effect is the difference in the outcome of a game between an optimum player and a beginner. The result quantifies skill.

A pure game of chance such as roulette for example has no learning effect and would have a skill value of 0. A pure game of skill has no chance effect and would have a skill value of 1.

All games have a skill value between 0 and 1. The larger the skill value, the more skill and less chance applies.

Blackjack scores a skill value of 0.049, management games such as fantasy sports score a skill value of 0.3, and poker achieves a skill value of 0.4, closer to that of chess and bridge.

RIPPLE EFFECT ELSEWHERE??

Several observers commented that if poker were re-classified as a game of skill based on such a formula in the Netherlands, that it could quickly have a ripple effect across Europe, and even assist efforts of such groups as the Poker Players Alliance in the USA in their support of the newly introduced Senate Skill Game bill, called the "Internet Skill Game Licensing and Control Act" (S. 3616).

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News above is based on Original Article from Gaming Intelligence Group