Online Poker Hands: The More You Win, The More You Lose

A recent study conducted by Cornell University finds that the more hands online poker players win, the less money they are likely to collect, especially when it comes to novice players.   

Cornell sociology doctoral student Kyle Siler explains that multiple wins are likely for small stakes and the more played, the more likely one will be hit with significant losses.  The study analyzed some 27 million online poker hands.

This finding, Siler said, "coincides with observations in behavioral economics that people overweigh their frequent small gains vis-à-vis occasional large losses, and vice versa." In other words, players feel positively reinforced by their streak of wins but have difficulty fully understanding how their occasional large losses offset their gains.

The study, which was published online in December in the Journal of Gambling Studies and will be published in a forthcoming print edition later this year, also found that for small-stakes players, small pairs (from twos to sevens) were actually more valuable than medium pairs (eights through jacks).

"This is because small pairs have a less ambiguous value, and medium pairs are better hands but have more ambiguous values that small-stakes players apparently have trouble understanding," said Siler, a long-time poker player himself.

PokerTracker software was used to analyze small-stakes, medium-stakes and high-stakes hands of No-Limit Texas Hold'em with six seats at the table. 

Ace King, Gambling911.com