Big difference with poker is that its all about money, the game doesnt work if people arent risking something. And if computers are superior, the game breaks down.
You are worried that people will cheat in online poker, or what?
For poker, people can still play face to face, and it being a game of mixed strategies means it's probably a lot less important that poker bots are better than people than in chess. Top chess players use the computers to set up preparation bombs on their opponents, with rebuttals to moves for specific positions created by the computers. That doesn't work in a game of imperfect information and mixed strategies.
> whereas the norm for online poker is to play for money, often for large sums
That is definitely not the norm. Most people are playing recreationally. Heck it is illegal to pay poker online with real money in 44/50 states in the US.
Yeah, but playing poker for not real money is a very different game. Players have no incentive to not take huge risks, so it is a completely different game.
> Big difference with poker is that its all about money, the game doesnt work if people arent risking something.
I don't see this, I used to really enjoy online poker tournaments for play-money. It's a fun and strategic game in and of itself with nothing more than minor bragging rights on the line, to me at least. I honestly don't see why it should be any different from chess in terms of purely recreational play. (You could say chess is a deeper game, and that's probably true
in some ways, but that's not a positive feature for casuals like me with no desire to invest many hours/years into mastering the game.)
Poker is not really all about money. Plenty of games might only ask you to stake like $5 but the joy and aim of the game is really to outplay the table, not take home $25.
