Sports-Style Poker Database On The Way

In the United States, the World Poker Tour has announced that it has partnered with Stats LLC in hopes of producing the poker industry's first sports-style database.

Steve Lipscomb, Chief Executive Officer for World Poker Tour, told American newspaper USA Today that they hope to develop a mathematical system for gauging ability and aggression.


'In poker, we all think we're better than we are,' said Lipscomb.


'We're going to develop statistics that will allow you to compare one win against another. The first stats you're going to get are rather basic, telling you what your ranking is based on the strength of field. All we have now are the World Series Of Poker bracelets but some of those are smaller buy-in events.


'If you won a World Series of Poker tournament years ago with 150 people in it, how does that compare to a World Poker Tour event with 500 people in it? This will tell you.'


Stats LLC currently provides data collection and analysis for 85 leagues including the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.


Lipscomb stated that the poker statistics available on the World Poker Tour’s website are also another way to validate poker as a sport including the ‘aggression index’.


'It's a mathematical formula on how many times you raise in certain positions with what hand,' said Lipscomb.


'We all know poker is infinitely nuanced but that's no different than baseball. The audience has adopted poker as a sport. But the next step is how we talk about it in sports parlance. We're learning how to talk about this.'


In addition, Lipscomb stated that the World Poker Tour would soon unveil ClubWPT.com, a subscription-based gaming platform allowing players to legally compete online for as much as $100,000 in prize money every month.


However, the website will not be accessible in all 50 American states but will operate state-by-state and under sweepstakes laws in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Players will be able to sign-up and play for free in all 50 states.

News Added: 29 January, 2008

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