Mehta is the author of 2 books on poker.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: Former professional poker player Sunny Mehta, who’s also the author of two books on poker, and has been making a name for himself in the application of advanced statistics in sports, has been hired by the National Hockey League (NHL) team New Jersey Devils to lead their analytics department.
The Devils’ hire of Mehta is in keeping with the growing trend in the NHL of incorporating advanced statistics into the analysis process, reported NBC Sports. Mehta, 36, will report directly to Devils GM Lou Lamoriello.
Devils’ owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer liked the idea of forming this department after the NBA team they own, the Philadelphia 76ers, went that route. Lamoriello said he was “extremely open-minded to it” due to his background in math.
“Statistics have always been a part of the game,” Lamoriello was quoted by NBC. “The word analytics is a buzzword right now. To try and stay ahead of the curve, we looked into and interviewed a lot of people.”
He added that advanced statistics are an “evolution,” but can only go so far and can’t replace traditional scouting.
According to CardsChat, Mehta was a former professional jazz guitarist who, as a high-stakes poker player, was an active member of the TwoPlusTwo forums, and published two books, Professional No-Limit Hold ‘em: Volume I (2007) and Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em (2009), both co-authored with Matt Flynn and Ed Miller.
More recently, Mehta has been publishing statistical analysis of hockey games. Mehta isn’t the first poker player to make a name for himself in sports analytics. Nate Silver, now one of the most famous statistical analysts in the world, once earned his living by playing online poker professionally, said the report.
Silver went onto develop PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm), a system for forecasting the performance and career development of Major League baseball players. He gained wider fame by accurately predicting the winner in 49 of the 50 states in the 2008 presidential elections, and, in 2012, all 50. He is now a hugely influential journalist and, in 2010, Forbes Magazine listed him as one of the “most powerful people on the earth.”
Mehta’s bio on his website – www.sunnymehta.com – informs that he was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and grew up in Wyckoff, New Jersey. He graduated from the Frost School of Music at University of Miami with a degree in Jazz Guitar and Studio Music, and then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to perform and record music full time.
Apart from quantitative analysis of sports markets, Mehta has also turned his attention to equity options trading and Bayesian statistics.