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Posted By: Bob C

In a two-person zero-sum game, the payoff to one player is the negative of that going to the other. Although zero-sum games are not terribly interesting to economists who typically study situations where there are gains to trade, most common parlor games such as poker and chess are zero sum: one player wins, one loses. In an auction where the auctioneer takes a percentage of both buyer and seller proceeds I submit the zero sum theory is negated.
That being said, the anticipation of the buyer for future "appreciation" somewhat offsets this.
Any statistician's out there? Care to get into the Randon Walk Theory?