    | FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2013  The Science of Winning Poker
[image] Associated Press  The World Series of Poker, 2010.  More
than 6,300 players, each paying an entry fee of $10,000,
gathered in Las Vegas early this month for the championship
event of the 44th annual World Series of Poker. The tournament
ran for 10 days, and just nine players now remain. They will
reunite in November for a two-day live telecast to determine who
wins the first prize: $8.3 million.  Poker didn't get this big
overnight. In 2003, a then-record 839 players entered the
championship for a shot at $2.5 million. The winner was an
amateur with the improbable name of Chris Moneymaker. After ESPN
devoted seven prime-time hours to his triumph, online poker took
off and tournament participation ballooned, as did prize pools.
The U.S. government's ban on the major online poker sites in
2011 reined in enthusiasm, but the game has continued to grow in
Europe, Asia and Latin America.  This growth over the past
decade has been accompanied by a p