I think its high time I dropped some multiculturalism on you readers out there. Did you know that not everybody in the world does things the way American’s do? Shocking I know, but even when it comes to cards, there are cultural differences.

In my chosen profession, I have the good fortune of meeting more people from outside the US than most. My buddy is from Turkey. We recently got together with some other friends to play a little friendly game. As he began to dealt, we didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.

Apparently they have different names for some of the symbols on the cards. They still use the French suits (that is the name for the standard suit system we use). The heart is obviously still a heart. You can probably glean the others from the title; club is a clover (I honestly like that one better, it looks like a damn clover and I’ve maintained it should be called that multiple times in the past), spade is a leaf, and the diamond is a tile. He told us, in a very matter of fact way, that Americans are girly for calling it a diamond.

There are other suit systems besides this one. The two other major ones are the German and Latin. They use symbols like swords, acorns, and chalices - all manner of outlandish icons. How true that bussiness is I dont know. I just found that out from a quick google search which turned up this website. But I would imagine that the evolution of the playing card deck is probably an interesting one. I’ll have to read up on it and let you all know what I find.

or maybe their poker players simply aren’t as good.

A Mathematics professor in The Netherlands is arguing the status of poker under Dutch law according to this article. The Dutch Betting and Gaming Act recognizes poker as a “game of chance” on par with other casino games. It is not clearly stated in the article what difference this would make, but it seems obvious that its status would change in some way, legally, by moving it from the roulette category to that of chess.

Professor Ben Van der Genugten along with Peter Borm used a simple formula which they believe shows poker’s inherent skill.

Skill = Learning Effect/(Learning Effect + Chance Effect)

Learning Effect is the difference between an experienced player and an inexperienced one. In games of chance, the Skill value is zero. There is no difference between any two players ability to win, leaving a dividend of zero. According to this formula, poker scores a 0.4 which is better than fantasy sports.

Not much else is said about the ratings but it is an interesting development and could potentially have effects on poker’s legal status as a game in other coutries if a precedent is set in the land of wooden shoes.

This concept is another important aspect of poker; indeed, it’s crucial for any game that is to be taken seriously. The nature of poker, however, gives it even more weight. Everyone interacts with the metagame to some extent, though the very best players are conciously aware of it and understand its ins and outs as well as the game of poker itself. I have said many times before, these are the things that interest me most in any competitive situation. Poker is so rife with them, that I suspect it is the reason I like it so much.

But, this is a term some people may not be familiar with. As the title of this post suggests, it is derived from the greek (yes that is the only link to the movie 300, I just thought it was a funny pic to throw up there). “Meta” can be translated as “beyond”. It is usually used in English to indicate an abstraction of some sort, or to talk “about” something on a higher level than the subject itself. So, to talk about the metagame of poker is not to make reference to chips, hand values, betting, etc…. It is intended to refer to the broader arena of the game’s play.

Some examples might make this more clear. These are some meta concerns that most people are aware of, though they may not have realized that they could be classified as such; and, therefore, better understood.

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