IQ versus Standing in Weekly challenge.

davedillman

On the weekly challenge I often end up with a IQ score that states I have played this better then 99% of the players, and yet my chip results often put me in the 40-50 % category of players. Is this variance at work? Am I leaking some big hand losses that explain this? I am having trouble understanding the difference in results?

AllenBlay

Hi Dave, so this is going to be an odd answer. The answer is that we really shouldn't be showing a poker IQ score for the weekly challenges because they are non-random hands. We really shouldn't even show it for ANY non-random hand sessions. The algorithm for the IQ score assumes random hands. When they aren't random, the score will be biased in one way or another. Even though in theory it shouldn't matter, it does. What this means is that average IQ scores for an AA challenge will show up as higher than say for a suited connector challenge. The reason is that it is much easier for your opponent to make a theoretical mistake if you always have AA. Basically, your opponent is always behind you, so any time he calls, he has made a mistake. With random hands, that all washes out in the end, but with set hands, it creates a bit of bias.

Bottom line is that we originally just put the poker IQ score in there for fun - it isn't really intended to be used for anything other than that. We kept the score in the weekly challenges because we knew people enjoyed getting one. But I definitely wouldn't pay any attention at all to that number on the weekly challenges.

davedillman

Thanks, for the answer, that makes sense in a non-logical way... lol Will ignore it, but I am hoping that the IQ score means something in randomized hands because I have been believing my game is getting better in areas as I have been relying on that in my full-ring games in APT