I do not play poker.
I don’t play it live or online.
I know enough about the game to be able to follow it if it’s on TV (which it isn’t as much as it was a few years ago).
With that said, I have to comment on an ad for an online poker site which I have seen a number of times recently.
I play games on my cellphone, and a couple of them run ads after every round of the game. I don’t mind that as much as some people apparently do, because I know I can get up and get a glass of water or check my e-mail on my computer if I’m at home.
So this one online poker site has a series of ads for their Texas Hold ‘em game where the only thing that changes is the person whose hand you are ‘playing’. They have the king and jack of hearts in their hand, and the 10 and queen come up in the first three community cards on the table.
So you’re just missing one card, the ace of hearts, to have a royal flush, the best hand in the game guaranteed.
So you stick around and make a couple of bets.
It comes down to the last card, and there it is: the ace of hearts.
So you’re the last player to bet, and the only other player left goes all-in, which means your next bet will be the last one for this hand.
This is where the ads differ slightly.
One of the players you’re following acts almost immediately, which is what I would certainly do. You know you have the best hand at the table; there’s nobody else still to bet so you can’t bluff someone by playing slowly.
The other player you’re following takes about five seconds before they make their bet.
Now, I’m not saying this is deliberate on the part of the company running the ad, but I find it kind of unusual.
As I said, the only major difference in the ads (besides the time for the last bet) is whose cards you are ‘playing’, and the ad shows the person a couple of time.
The person who acts immediately, which I think any poker player would tell you is the logical play, is a man.
The one who takes five seconds to apparently realize their royal flush will definitely win the hand is a woman.
Like I say, I’m not sure it’s deliberate on the company’s part that a woman has to think longer to realize she has the winning hand, but I have to wonder.