Chess and Gambling

I saw a chess gambling site today for the first time. It offered a bunch of variations such as hold 'em, standard, etc. It honestly seemed kind of novel but I would want to be certain that there was no cheating going on before I'd ever put my real money in.

The site stated that it uses some sophisticated algorithim to weed out cheaters. I didn't name the site because my goal is not to promote them. I'm just curious if anyone has ever played on these chess gambling sites, and could they possibly be legitimate. I have played texas hold em online for actual cash so I don't know, maybe this is no different.

I'm curious to hear others experience.

Chess gambling hmmm...

Chess Boxing... all the way

Interesting..... Never heard of chess gambling in the common.  Back in the old age, there used to be games over land/goods and such.  But never for actual money in this day and age. 

To tell the truth, I don't know if that will help the game at all either.  I perfer to keep chess to the gentleman's game that it has been kept at for the past years.  I'm sure some will disagree but that's how I feel.

A small wager between players mabye..... but not a full blown gambling site.

Yes, I have seen a website where you could wager on all sorts of games, and chess was one of them.  It seemed like lousy idea to me because chess doesn't let a sucker get lucky from time to time compared to traditional gambling games like poker.

paul211 wrote:

At any game you play online or at the casino the odds are in favor of the house anywhere from 51%  up to 70%.

This is false.  If you play poker online at the lower stakes, e.g. $3/$6 Hold'em, the majority of people play badly enough to allow a competent player to beat them and the rake fairly easily.  This assumes at least 20-30,000 hands of course.

paul211 wrote:

Are you a gambler? and if so stick to the game you know how best to play.

At any game you play online or at the casino the odds are in favor of the house anywhere from 51%  up to 70%.

If your chess Elo rating is above 2400 then go for it!

Otherwise just play the game your best at and never forget that it is your bid that makes the difference if you are to win.

A fair game would offer you a 51% chance of winning, theory of games mathematics, but none do.

So what do you do in a game where the house isn't playing? (i.e. poker, the house makes its money by taking a small percentage of the pot...something like 10% at best.)

Filipinos are a gambling lot. They place bets on almost anything-even on sports like billiards, basketball, boxing, etc. Some bets are based not only on who will win but also on what the final scores would be as in the game of basketball (whether the winning score would end in even or odd number!).

It is not uncommon to see people placing bets on 3-minute chess blitz games whether they are played in steamy chess clubs, town plazas or even on busy sidewalks. The games are usually rowdy (but seldom end in fights).

By the way, back in the late 70s in Manila, I witnessed a blitz game between an Indian-looking kid and an adult chess club habitue. I'm sure people have placed bets judging from the crowd's reaction to every move. I'm now certain that the kid I saw was the future world champion-Viswanathan Anand!