The journey towards the regulation of live poker in Italy faces a series of challenges related to the so-called “structural misunderstanding“. To understand the need for an evolved discipline of poker at a professional level, it is essential to examine the origins of this misunderstanding and its influence on the technical-strategic, cultural, and socio-economic growth of professionals in the field. The Skill Poker Index aims to overcome these challenges, reducing variance in poker and bringing the discipline closer to sports recognition. This misunderstanding has its roots in the late 1960s, a period characterised by mass production, exponential growth, and the accumulation of large profits. At that time, poker was considered a casino game, and business strategies were influenced by the paradigms of the time, based on quantitative analysis and a priori rationality of Weberian matrix. Such strategic models led the development of the live sector towards myopic and mono-disciplinary approaches.
Poker Tournaments: Between Diffusion and the Limits of the Padia Component
The tournament mode was born in this context, as a transposition of the original cash game mode, modulating the structure with the progressive increase of blind levels within a defined time. This mode has favored a significant diffusion of the discipline of poker, freeing it from the classic negative clichés of public domain. The market indeed offers tournaments of all levels and durations, allowing many players and entrepreneurs to achieve great results in terms of popularity and revenue. However, although the classic mode of Texas Hold’em poker tournaments is commonly referred to as “sports poker“, the analysis shows that traditional tournaments are also influenced by the Padia component.
In the next article, we will further explore these themes, examining how to overcome the limits imposed by the Padia component and outlining possible solutions for the regulation of live poker in Italy.
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