Mathematics & Poker the subject of new college course

Brian Alspach is a professor at the University of Newcastle in Australia. He has calculated that there are more than 133 million different hand possibilities in the game of 7-Card stud Poker.

But which of those millions of combinations are you likely to get in your weekly Texas Hold’em game?

Alspach plans to share his views on how poker and mathematics coincide on Monday during a talk at the University of Virginia. His presentation, which will be geared toward a general audience and sponsored by U.Va.’s Institute of Mathematical Science, is open to the public with no cost.

But it’s not all fun and games says Alspach. In part of his talk he discusses the idea that, “With the huge increase in the popularity of poker due to TV and online gaming, there have been suggestions that poker could serve as a basis for teaching students in subjects such as mathematics, risk management and psychology."

Alspach’s talk will take place in Gilmer Hall, room 130 of the U. Va campus this evening at 7:30pm. Alspach has written about 100 research papers on mathematics and around 250 articles about poker. He has also spoken at many international conferences and is an avid poker player.

News Added: 26 January, 2009

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