Back to the Poker Newsfeed

Five Poker Lessons from the Powerball Drawing

Related Topics: Powerball, Poker, Penn Jillette, Lottery

Yesterday morning, millions of Americans woke up and heard the news that they did not win Powerball — a multi-state lottery with a grand prize that had swollen to over $900,000,000. As there was no winner, the next drawing will likely offer around $1.3 billion, more than twice as big as any American lottery prize in history.

Thinking about how nearly a billion dollars might change my life led me down a mental path of pondering what poker lessons can be learned from the lottery. Here’s what I came up with.

1. Irrationality reigns supreme

Clear, sound thinking is a rare commodity among gamblers.