Las Vegas Strip Clubs: The Primacy Effect in Poker by John Wray (JimmyLegs)
September 2, 2010 by diamond
Let’s pretend you’re a brand new poker player. Maybe you’re in Las Vegas for a buddy’s bachelor party, you’ve seen some poker on TV, and although you’re saving a little for the strip clubs, you’ve still got an extra $500 for “discretionary expenses” in your pocket. So, you sit down at the smallest game spread at the Venetian, fumble a big blind onto the felt, and play your very first hand of big-kid poker.
In this scenario, what would you say might be the very worst thing that could possibly happen to you? You get stacked? You get cheated? You get into a drunken brawl with a guy nicknamed “Fancy Fists”?
What if I told you the very worst thing that could possibly happen to you that night is that you win? And win big?
It seems counterintuitive, but there’s a very good reason why it might be dangerous for a budding poker player to have a wildly successful first session: the Primacy Effect. The …