Poker Skill Or Just Luck?
I had a very interesting conversation today at work about poker. There are so many people out there that suggest or truly believe that there isn’t any skill involved in poker…just dumb luck. I invite everyone who believes this to come play a fews sessions of poker at my house, and we’ll see how much skill it takes to win!
I read an interesting article today and I couldn’t give a better argument if I tried, so I’ll just give a few of the main points from the article and let you read the whole thing if you are interested.
The biggest distinction between poker and gambling is that in pretty much all gambling, you are playing against the house.
In poker, the house has no interest in the outcome, and is an impartial provider of services-for-a-fee, a forum for the players to compete equally against each other.
Another major difference between poker and gambling is that the rules of poker accord every player a statistically equal chance to win, but the rules of gambling games all give the house a definite advantage against the player, which over time is inexorable and inevitable. In essence, poker is fair, gambling is not.
Poker is a game of skill. It is a contest of abilities, more akin to bridge or chess than it is to gambling, in that more-talented players will prevail against less-talented players. Chance can and will affect short-term results, but skill separates winners from losers over time.
You?ll never get to play a pickup game against Michael Jordan or a round of golf against Tiger, or tear up the track against Matt Kenseth, but you can plop your buy-in down and take on Doyle Brunson or Howard Lederer.
7/28/2008 at 2:21am
Yes, a coin flips outcome is completely random. The point is that if you were flipping coins against a casino they would only pay you something like .9 to 1 in other words you’d put down 10$ on heads and when you win they pay you 9$. So yes you can win but if you play long enough say 10000 flips the head verses tail ratio is going to be around 5,000 5,000 which means that you,ve wagered 100,000 and won 90,000 for a net loss of 10,000. Does that mean the casino got lucky against you? No. The casino had a mathematical edge. All casino games are set up with a form of this edge against you.
In poker the casino doesnt care who wins because the money comes from the players. When you win it comes out of another players pocket. The casino takes a small portion of the pot which is called a “rake”. so essentially you’er just renting the seat from them. In poker you can be the “HOUSE” by making common sense decisions when others are making bad decisions. Or really good decisions when others are making good decisions. If you understand odds you would know how much you can call when your on the draw and still make money overtime. conversely if your the bettor you make the odds incorrect for draws and people will still call. They do get lucky a certain percentage of the time but when they lose you make that money back plus more when you bet correctly. This is just the most simple example of how poker does require skill. We all get the same cards over time. It becomes a waging war after that. Can you really say that people cannot make decisions that are essentially like giving money away at the table. I know they do. I have been beating poker for 3 years now. I have friends that have been beating the game for years. I know i make money just from the stupid stuff people do. Some people expose there cards every hand. I know it is a luck game but skill is the reason I have made money overtime. Poker is without a doubt a skill game. Tell me how there are professional poker players and no professional roulette players. Tell me ive been lucky for three years. Tell my friends they are lucky. Look at a player like Negreneaus winnings year in and year out. Tell me how You see a lot of the same players at final tables.
7/15/2008 at 7:41pm
This “snippet” from the article is quite hilarious, they prove no point at all.
For example, replace the term “poker” with “coin flipping” into the article. The author would make the point that if a casino provided a means for “coin flipping” and for participants to bet on the outcome that it was skill since each player has the same chance of winning.
Yet in reality, a coin flip is 100% luck and no skill, so the author makes no point at all.