Ike Haxton warns fellow highstakes pros about divisive ‘race scientist’ Charles Murray
Ike Haxton took to Twitter yesterday to warn his fellow pros about one of the most controversial political scientists, Charles Murray, showing an interest in the highstakes poker community.
Charles Murray, best known as author of The Bell Curve, seems to have taken a sudden interest in poker. Today, he sent this message to 20 or 30 prominent poker players. His interest in our community strikes me as strange and I feel obliged to share what I know about him. pic.twitter.com/IeIJbb7AEv
— Isaac Haxton (@ikepoker) December 3, 2019
Murray has been accused in the past of using ‘racist pseudoscience and misleading statistics’ to defend his studies into the correlation between IQ, genetics and social inequality.
His co-authored 1994 book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life, referenced by Haxton in his original tweet, has been at the center of often bitter discussion ever since.
Quite what Murray wants of the poker community is as yet unclear. But intellectual Haxton fears the worst given Murray’s background – the legendary poker pro’s ‘alarm bells’ ringing…
When someone with his history and affiliations turns up looking to talk to poker players about "GTO Theory" my alarm bells go off. He says he is researching a book on the evolution of high level poker, but it would be surprising if this is not an overtly political project.
— Isaac Haxton (@ikepoker) December 3, 2019
Described as an ‘extremist’ and a ‘white nationalist’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and a ‘popular conservative intellectual’ and ‘martyr for free speech’ by others.
Murray responded to Haxton’s tweets by refuting that SPLC description of him…
A good idea. Since i suspect your source includes the SPLC page about me, I hope you will do me the courtesy of reading this. https://t.co/QlWTGGVEg0 https://t.co/Me9THuzLw1
— Charles Murray (@charlesmurray) December 3, 2019
…and offering Ike an insight into his thoughts on poker by directing him to a 2013 New York Times article he wrote, entitled ‘Poker Is America’.
In that opinion piece, Murray wrote: ‘Let’s start by getting this straight: poker is about money. If you took the money out of it, I wouldn’t play. But even when I lose, I’ve had a good time.
He continued: ‘I love playing poker as an escape from the world I usually live in, and I especially love playing at Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, W.Va., where you can find me about two afternoons a week.’
This week Murray has been in Vegas to “do some research” which may or may not be connected to his highstakes pro investigations, but which certainly includes poker.
Murray tweeted at the weekend: ‘This morning at Bellagio; this afternoon in a tournament at Wynn. Probably will go to Bellagio again tomorrow AM.’
We are yet to see the list of 20 or 30 prominent poker players’ that Haxton mentions, but apparently, highstakes pro Sam Greenwood isn’t among them.
The Canadian crusher tweeted about not making Murray’s list of ‘Ashkenazi Jewish poker players’…
A grotesque oversight! https://t.co/tSbNjlwKgu
— Charles Murray (@charlesmurray) December 3, 2019
What sparked Murray’s interest in writing a book on how top-class poker has changed across the years also isn’t known yet. However, this tweet may give some indication.
If you want a glimpse into how much world-class poker has changed over the last decade, this is a good intro. https://t.co/d1xEuZG9Le
— Charles Murray (@charlesmurray) November 25, 2019
Murray retired last year from his position at the conservative public policy think-tank, the American Enterprise Institute(AEI) and may simply have decided poker, as a passion, would make for an interesting study group.
Not everyone is looking forward to Murray’s latest musings on poker…
Poker Twitter: please please please do not welcome Political Scientist Charles Murray into our community. https://t.co/X20PBm1ecr
— Nick Zautra (@zautrazautra) December 3, 2019
…although others disagree, one citing Murray’s 2003 book, which itself proved controversial…
https://twitter.com/PereGrimmer/status/1201705886714155008?s=20
Other top players have yet to comment on Murray’s interest in the highstakes game and its changes over the years.
