Stephen Dubner, one of the authors of Freakonomics, asked an interesting question: 

Whenever I see a poker tournament on TV or wander through a casino, I am always struck by a particular absence: there seem to be very few Indian-Americans playing poker. Considering that there are so many Indians of poker age in this country who thrive in finance, computer science, engineering, and other fields that incorporate math, probability, risk, etc. — i.e., the kind of fields that produce a lot of amateur and pro poker players — why should this be so?

The last time I checked there were about 100 comments following this question.  Here’s one comment by Sanjay Altekar that a friend sent me (thanks Steve) that I found to be an interesting and reasonable answer to Dubner’s question:  

According to Indian mythology, gambling was the primary cause for the ruin of a ruling family (the Pandavas), a war between two families (the Pandavas and the Kauravas), and almost the complete annihilation of a race (the Bharata race).  This is why the ruling and scholarly class in India (the Brahmins) look down upon gambling .  Since the majority of Indians that come to America are from this Brahmin background, we can see why Indian-Americans are seldom seen in poker cardrooms.

Last night I lost all my no deposit bonus money that I got to play at Ultimate Bet, an online room that Phil Hellmuth plays at.  Through YourPokerCash I got $50 to play on the site.  In addition to this $50, which I received in my UB account after about 5 business days, I was eligible to earn additional money for just playing, $1 for every UB point, up to $50.  I had earned about $8 from this source.  So my total losses from UB were about $58. 

What did I learn from the experience?  Not much.  I started off playing at the $.25-$.50 no limit tables, not because there weren’t smaller stake tables - there were - but rather because I thought that I was better than I was.  I was quickly disabused of this thought.  So I guess I learned something after all.  I’m either bad or rusty.

Although I was up at one time, this was short lived, and in a matter of a couple of days, I had lost everything, except for about $0.73.  I took this money to the $0.01-$0.02 no limit tables and started playing my old tight game, the one I’ve written about in previous posts.  In a few days, I took this pittance and turned it into a little less of a pittance, over $6.  But last night, I was playing at a table with a couple of aggressive players, and I got carried away.  I lost half of my hard-earned money - $3 - and decided to move to a different table, at which I lost most of it when my full house lost to a higher one. 

I have $0.07 left in my account, not enough to play at any of the tables.   It was fun while it lasted.  I’m now waiting to see if get a similar sort of no deposit deal with Full Tilt, sponsored by YourPokerCash.  I can’t wait.   

Today on NPR there was an interesting piece about the Poker Players Alliance. They’re out there fighting for poker, lobbying Congress to get them to change their minds about their ridiculous position about online poker. We’ve got some politicians on our side. You get to hear Barry Greenstein speak truth to power. It’s definitely worth listening to. Just click on this link Poker Players Alliance