Poll: Is poker primarily a game of skill or chance

[jdeliverer]

Think about it like this: if you could see your opponent's hole cards and had any basic knowledge of the game, you would win a tournament 99.9999% of the time by picking your spots. This demonstrates that poker is a game of skill because if you had "perfect" skill, it would be an advantage as great or greater than seeing your opponent's hole cards.

The only reason chance comes in is because players' skill levels are relatively equal. If someone were able to read people so well that he/she could figure out what they had every hand or were able to manipulate people so well that he/she could get others to make a call or fold (like Gold did in 2006), that person would be able to win almost every time, regardless of what cards they were dealt.

 

[phoebepussy]

Three years ago I lost money at online poker and made regular deposits

Two years ago I stopped having to make deposits and occasionally got to withdraw

I now withdraw every month

Have I got luckier over the last couple of years ? No

Game of skill

 

[TiltMonkey999]

Definitely skill, otherwise you don't know how to play AA

 

[kidkvno1]

Skill. Ones who learn and play pick up the skill faster then just playing poker with out learning it first.

 

[Gorblid]

i think
75% skill 25% chance

 

[lrrpk9]

one hand of poker is chance , do you get AA and flop an A or 23 and flop 223 or 75 and hit air . winning in the long run will come down to skill as everyone who plays enough hand will see the same situations the same starting hands same types of flops and how you play them will make a difference imho

 

[pokerking123]

the best evidence that its skill is that there are poker pros, and they win alot of the times...if it was luck, then there cant be a pro and different people would be winning all the time. But there is still some luck involved

 

[RogueRivered]

Poker is definitely a game of skill. However, winning big money in a large tournament has a high degree of chance. Many things have to happen just right to win a large tournament especially among skillful opponents.

Suppose Major League Baseball, assuming a fair distribution of players, had 6,000 teams. How often would your team win the World Series?

 

[custo80]

Skill. I love the votes for chance, no monkeys here