Poker or Bridge?

What group of people do you think is more likely to have heard of Freakonomics, top bridge players or top poker players?

Far and away it is bridge players.

We ran some experiments at a big bridge tournament last week and used the Freakonomics name to help recruit volunteers. Many of the bridge players had heard of or read the book. It made recruiting very easy.

Right now, I am in Las Vegas trying to run some experiments on top poker players. With the notable exception of a few very intelligent players like Phil Gordon and Howard Lederer, it seems that poker players don’t spend a lot of time reading, at least not books like Freakonomics. Virtually no one we approach to be in the experiment has any idea what Freakonomics is. One guy said to me, “Freakonomics…doesn’t that have something to do with Scientology?” I said, “Actually, no. It has more to do with Economics.” He walked away.

If, against all odds, you are a serious poker player who is in Las Vegas over the next few days, and you are actually reading this, we still need some more recruits. Here is a description of the experiment.