Pocket Aces and Poverty

Texas Hold ‘Em Poker is a game of probability, skill, strategy, psychology, and luck.  But, mostly probability.

Texas Hold ‘Em Poker is a game of probability, skill, strategy, psychology, and luck.  But, mostly probability.

I think the only luck part is what hand you are dealt.  After that it is mostly building strategy around the probability of winning with the cards you have been dealt and the ones that come after.  The good players know how to create good strategies with bad hands because they are the ones everyone gets dealt more often than not.

But let’s say, that I could get dealt two aces every time.  Regardless of what others are dealt, I am going to get the best hand around 70% of the time.  And, let’s say you get a 2 and a 7 from two different suits, every time.  That jumps my odds to 90% of having a better hand than you.

Starting every game with two aces in my hand does not guarantee me a win.  In fact, I could stand to lose more chips with my loses because I know I am going to win most of the time.  But, at the end of the day, after hundreds of rounds, regardless of my skill or yours, I am going to take home most of the chips all the time.

Aces are not better than twos or sevens.  Each card is made of the same material.  But the rules of the game make them of higher value.

White, Middle Class, Straight, Males with a decent education are not better than anyone else.  We are made of the same material.  But, it seems the structure of our society deals us the higher percentage cards every round.

So… in the context of poverty in the United States, I am wonder what odds I have, based on the luck of the deal, at experiencing poverty and/or breaking the cycle of poverty.

And, I wonder what the odds are for people who always get dealt the 2 of spades and 7 of hearts.

Some questions that are rolling around my head as I fiddle with my chips.

1.      In real life, what is the strategy for the person who keeps getting dealt 2 Aces to not just get more chips, but to make the game fair for everyone?

2.      Is there a way to make the rules more fair for everyone?

3.      It looks like giving more chips to the poor person who keeps getting dealt bad cards isn’t helping, nor telling them to play harder.  So what do we do so they can play too?

4.      Who were the people in Jesus day that held the bad cards all the time?  What did He do with them?

5.  If I was dealt 2’s and 7’s, eventually I would probably quit, wait till after the game, and just rob the person with the 2 Aces.  Those odds are at least a little more in my favor.