Is Poker a game of Skill or Chance?

Deadly Assassin · Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:40 pm Post subject:

I think the luck slighltly overrules the skill ratio. Maybe 60/40 or something along those lines. Of course skill is important in the game, but if you don't have any luck, there is no way to win. Since a person who has great luck and no skill can easily win and not the other way around, I think that proves it.
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DailyFacade7 · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:18 pm Post subject:

Yes, but I have had plenty of bad hands and bluffed well enough to weed out the good ones. You can have great luck, but if you have no skill or confidence then your luck is worthless. There are very few who have great luck and skill, as well as the confidence in his or hers luck and skill. I think it can go both ways easily. 50/50.
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Kane of the Black Sea · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:26 pm Post subject:

I definetly would have to go with saying it is a mixture of the both. Sometimes I think it relies on one more heavily than the other, but I think it moves back and fourth.
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Arcana · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 2:55 pm Post subject:

Remember, people....

Part of how good you are depends on how good you are at managing and mitigating risk.

Those people who can make it to the top tournaments are good because they are able to manage the "luck" part of the game. If this game was entirely based on probability, then you'd get random winners of big card game tournaments, too.

There is as much skill in poker as there are many other games. It just happens that the skill set is very different from the skillset required to play a game like pool.
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DailyFacade7 · Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject:

Well said. Couldn't have said it better myself.
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Omerta · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 11:57 am Post subject:

I would suppose that poker is a mixture of the two. I guess that luck as more to do with it than skill though.

Pilika · Posted: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:07 am Post subject:

Poker is just like life. It depends both on chance, but has a lot going on skill. A good player can win with a bad hand, by making the right moves, while a bad player may loose with good cards by making the wrong moves. So I would account most of it on skill, although it does depend on luck quite a bit.
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Rovalis · Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 6:48 am Post subject:

I think it's a mix of both. It's a game of chance in the sense that despite how good you are, the cards are randomized. To a certain extent, ofcourse, though that is also a factor in the concept of "chance".

As far as skill is involved, it has to do with counting, assessing other players, knowing when to continue and when to back down, when to allow yourself to go out on a limb and take a risk, etc etc.
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ferrouslupusrex · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 4:30 am Post subject:

It's a whole lot of luck and some skill in bluffing... I personally suck at it. :mrgreen:
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Sir Kan of Grassland · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:10 pm Post subject:

I think that Poker is a game of chance.

Ezekiel · Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:30 pm Post subject:

Blindside · Posted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 8:18 pm Post subject:

Well, I am a professional poker player.

I can tell you it's a lot more difficult to play a TCG/CCG at the top levels. However, the more 'skill' you have (A better word would be experience), the less 'luck' you need to depend on. The two are related.

If you go to a major tournament without knowing the top probability problems and percentages, then you're basically telling me "I like throwing my money away." Every player that is anywhere near serious should be able to calculate all of these percentages in less than a few seconds.

The thing that makes poker so much more difficult is the amount of players that have no clue what they're doing. I've made so many mis-plays because of something that the other player did wrong. The bad thing about that situation is I can't really blame the other person for my loss, I don't really learn anything, and blaming myself will do no good because it's not really my fault (in essence, I did make the correct decision).

I really think, overall, it's a bit of both. You have to know what hands to play, when to raise, when to fold, and the mathematics behind the game (which, really, isn't difficult at all. try designing a game). Other than that, the only difficulty is dodging the novice players. Honestly, this is why you make more money from poker than any other game. It's not necessarily difficult, but it's so much like 'work' that most players can't put up with a long tournament (most are there for leisure).

:), Ted.

Creepr · Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:11 pm Post subject:

My opinion is that it's a balance. The only thing is that people find it extremly hard to find. Poeple have to learn to bide their time, bluff or simply go strategically desperate in order to be a good player. For me it's always hard to mix everything correctly.
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Nimble Jack · Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2007 12:49 am Post subject:

I kind of view it as poker players being required to be skillful with luck. Luck is definitely a factor that contributes to poker but I'm of the opinion that a large portion of the skill is invested in riding that luck. Knowing when to bet high, cut your losses and walk away, or count your winnings and come to win another day.

I can't see anyone saying that there isn't a measure of skill involved with poker. If there wasn't skill involved then why would drunk people do worse at poker, over all. I'm sure that there are cases where a drunk man/woman will do exceedingly well at poker but those are few and to be envied.

Some poker games also have methods that go along with them about how to count cards. Blackjack is a big one for that. Even though casinos will use many decks, there are still ways to keep track and watch the high card. There was a TV program that talked about three MIT students who devised a scheme to make large sums of money off blackjack, so skill is very much present in poker.
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