Blair Rodman, World Series of Poker bracelet winner and author of Kill Phil -- The Fast Track to Success in Low-Limit Hold 'Em Poker Tournaments, responds:
There are multiple possible reasons for this.
The modern game has been taken to levels never dreamed of by the old Texas road gamblers who ruled in the early days of the World Series of Poker. Today's game is dominated by math experts (okay, nerds) who are very precise in their decision making. In the example here, there's a significant difference between 4.6 million and either 4 or 5 million. Is there a difference between 4.6 million and 4.625 million. Probably not. But the point is, in many instances, there likely is a mathematical reason that influences the strange-looking bets that they make.
Some of it is superstition. Gamblers tend to be superstitious, and I've seen some pretty weird stuff go down at the tables. One example makes that point: World-renowned backgammon expert and avid poker player Paul Magriel always bet a "rainbow" of colors if at all possible. If there were 100, 25, and 5 denomination chips available, his bet would always include at least one of each. Then, without fail, he'd say "quack, quack." It's been said he's quackers, but his betting of odd amounts can almost certainly be attributed to his quirks (quacks?!) and superstition.
It's also possible that betting in this fashion could cause a player to over-think the bet and perhaps be thrown off for a minute. Any time you can get an opponent away from thinking about the things he should be thinking about, you’re getting an edge; I find myself making rainbow bets on occasion, sometimes for this very reason, and other times, just because I'm bored!
