How Much of Poker is Skill & How Much is Luck?

  • Thread starter Thread starter UM3SH
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There are many figure's bandied about, anything from 50/50 to 90/10 and everything in between, but if you think about it logically, both are immeasurable, so every figure is neither right or wrong, You cannot measure Skill or Luck and only judge it for yourself.
If you use a bench mark or 90/10 and think the 90% is pure luck, while the 10% is skill, then by definition Skill will outweigh luck every time, because everyone has the same amount of Luck if you believe in such a thing, but if you have a skill in playing Poker, it has to give you an edge over a lucky player.
A phrase I like to use is the "Cream always rises to the top" and time and again in my weekly poker games at my local Pub, we had 3 some times 4 tables running in a Tournament, and the same faces appeared week after week on the Final Table, these were not your average players, many of them were previous winners and qualifiers, for the Regional Finals, and a few even went on to play in the National Finals.
So Skill will always come out on top in the long run, There will always be mediocre players who are lucky, and will win the occasional game, but it takes a skillful player to be on the Final Table week in and week out, and qualify for the bigger games.

When the fun Stops, STOP!
 
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For me, skills are of course in the first place, but a little luck will not be superfluous.
 
I think that preparation and skill improves luck. If you don't have any skill and are flying by the seat of your pants you are going where the wind blows you. If you have skill you can control those situations a little better.
 
Poker is a game where you need three components. Skill, experience and luck. All three factors are very important and crucial. But I think that skill and experience are more important than luck.
 
filippfilm said:
I think skill is only about 30% of the game. The rest is luck and luck!
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I do not agree! I believe that at least 70% knowledge, 30% luck. Luck alone will not accomplish much. Yes, luck is important too. How many times do you come in with KK or AA and win with a small pair, or how your opponent made a straight with Q9 today. But all the same, knowledge is important at a distance.
 
That poker is a game based on strategy

UM3SH said:
According to you, poker is all about luck or skill?

🙄
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I believe that poker is a game based on strategy and although variance is part of the game, whoever plays inside the bank can win in the long run.
 
I like the proportion 80% skill and 20% luck, of course this is also variable and each hand has its different weight.... the game should always be thought of and played for the long term.
 
Very interesting analyze

Pokerpoet2 said:
There are many figure's bandied about, anything from 50/50 to 90/10 and everything in between, but if you think about it logically, both are immeasurable, so every figure is neither right or wrong, You cannot measure Skill or Luck and only judge it for yourself.
If you use a bench mark or 90/10 and think the 90% is pure luck, while the 10% is skill, then by definition Skill will outweigh luck every time, because everyone has the same amount of Luck if you believe in such a thing, but if you have a skill in playing Poker, it has to give you an edge over a lucky player.
A phrase I like to use is the "Cream always rises to the top" and time and again in my weekly Poker games at my local Pub, we had 3 some times 4 tables running in a Tournament, and the same faces appeared week after week on the Final Table, these were not your average players, many of them were previous winners and qualifiers, for the Regional Finals, and a few even went on to play in the National Finals.
So Skill will always come out on top in the long run, There will always be mediocre players who are lucky, and will win the occasional game, but it takes a skillful player to be on the Final Table week in and week out, and qualify for the bigger games.

When the fun Stops, STOP!
Click to expand...

Very interesting analyze: Congratulations and thank you for sharing your precious experience. Greetings
 
How can one measure luck?
If we use BB/100 as a measure of success, then over a large number of hands the player with the higher BB/100 would be considered the better player.

The more hands, the more reliable this measure.

But even over a large number of hands, a player with a "true" winrate of 2BB/100 can lose.
Check out this variance calculator
You can see that with the same base winrate, one player makes a bundle, one loses a bundle, but most win overall
http://pokerdope.com/poker-variance-calculator/
 
Yea playing online can seem like it's a 100 percent luck cause anything can happen cause when you get up in chips you can lose them as quick as you got them online poker is tuff playing live poker with other people is totally different and it's about 50 percents luck 50 percent skill
 
I think is 50 luck and 50 skill. Like in life: play good when u have good cards and lose less when u have bad cards. Poker is a mistery most of time for this is so entertaining.
 
I have asked myself this question over and over, I think luck is something, some people, are born with...like look at this belly button and tell me it’s not lucky!!!
 
in tournaments, the factor of luck in one hand can be decisive - one coin flip can decide whether you become a chip leader or get out, so you need to grind more, in cash games, of course, the skill factor will be in the first place, although at a distance you can also catch a downstreak
 
The skill factor is definitely higher than the luck factor, otherwise you wouldn't see so many familiar faces at Final Tables.
 
UM3SH said:
According to you, poker is all about luck or skill?

🙄
Click to expand...



A mixture of the two.

But your answer depends on whether the action is short, medium or long term.
 
It's 30% skill and 70% luck.
There wont be any more recreational player if it's not luck involve.
Pro players have edges over them in long term.

Mentality of 'Fish' is: 'Hmmm, i might just get lucky and crush the Pros",
Mentality of Pros is: 'Duuurrr, damn fish just got lucky with this hand'.

P/s: Never pass bad remarks to fish when they won a hand against you. But instead praise them and say 'Nice hand, Sir'. Encourage them to play they same way.
 
I'd say skill is definitely on a higher percentage vs luck. Of course you need good starting hands, but without skill you're often lost and making mistakes.
 
Skills and the ability to play poker are not the main thing, the main thing is luck, everyone knows how to play correctly and carefully, a tournament is taking place and surely someone will be the first and someone will be the last, this is the fate of the gaming marathon.
 
Luck decides 90 percent in poker. Almost everyone who plays poker knows how to play it, knows the possible hands of the opponents. But if you are unlucky, you will still lose and that's 100 percent.🙂
 
To me I believes that poker is 70% skill and then 30% luck. You can have the great hand to start and still lose to a pair of deuces.
 
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