Is poker skill or luck?

Question

Is poker skill or luck?

Answer 1

A famous pro (it may have been TJ Cloutier but I'm not entirely sure who) put it best:  "The more I play, the more I learn and the luckier I get."

'Nuff said.

Answer 2

That's a simple question and also a complex one.

The simple answer: both.

The complex one... well, I don't wanna get too deep into it, but basically I like what I heard once:  In the short run, it's more about luck.  Any one person can win any given day.  But in the long term, skill outweighs luck.  Put an amateur up against a pro one day, he might get lucky and win.  Watch an amateur's bankroll and a pro's bankroll over a year... I think you'll start to see a difference.

Answer 3

There are several elements to being a successful poker player, which is why it is such a popular game.

Firstly, there is the luck of the deal. As others have said, anybody can win in the short term if the luck is with them, but, in the long term, skill will pay dividends.

The most important factor IMHO is to be able to figure the odds and assess your own and your opponents' chances of improving the cards on show into a winning hand. This may lead you, at times to throw away a potential winning hand, but it will pay dividends in the long run. Far too much money is wasted on optimistic bets on hands which have no realistic winning chance. Self-discipline is the key here.

Then again there is bluffing ability. If you have a brilliant hand (especially if it is not immediately obvious in the stud versions of the game), you need to be able to kid your opponents that it is not that good.

Of course, if it really isn't that good, there will also be times when you will want to bluff the others into thinking it is the best out there. There is nothing more satisfying in poker than scooping the pot when your rival folds a better hand!

Conversely, of couse, you must learn to read the tell-tale signs when your opponent is bluffing. You'd be surprised how many players give away by their body language what sort of hand they are holding!

Finally, it can occasionally pay off to make a really foolish bet to lull your opponents into a false sense of security and make them think you don't really know what you're doing!

Answer 4

I like this question.  It is a game of skill because you make decisions that will have an affect on the outcome.  This means you make decisions and it becomes skillful instead of chance like roulette or a slot machine.  It is a game of skill.  Skill does not mean that you win every time....it means you create your luck by making choices about what cards you keep or throw away.

Answer 5

I think it's a combination of both. You can improve your skill. There are poker sites which allows you to play poker replays. You can create, view, and comment on replays of poker hands you’ve played online or offline. You could always improve upon your game of poker by learning different strategies. Browse www.pokerhandreplays.com/ for a better game of poker.

Answer 6

Poker is more skill than luck. Yes, you can catch great cards, and you can catch rotten cards. That's the luck factor.

But the rest of poker is about skill. It takes skill to read other players (their body language, their betting patterns, et cetera). You have to be skilled in reading the board too. You have to learn sound strategy (like not playing certain starting hands because they're just not worth it at all - 7-2 off-suit comes to mind).

There are other aspects of skill, too. Luck? Well...that's a small part of the game. You can luck out all you want, but if you run into a skilled player who knows how to play post-flop, well, he has a distinct advantage.

Answer 7

Both.  God Bless you.

Answer 8

Poker is luck winning is being a ****ole and reading peoples motions. You have to have the instinct to win all the time.

Answer 9

80% skill, 20% luck.  Good players maximize their profit and minimize their losses by only putting their money in when it's likely they have the best odds of winning, and fold when the odds don't justify the call.  That takes a lot of skill.  You have to know the odds of hitting the cards you need, be able to tell what your opponents have based on any exposed cards, depending on the game you're playing, and how they're acting, know when you're getting the right pot odds to make a call, and know when to bluff and when to play straight.  It takes a lot of poker to learn all those skills.

But even the best players in the world can be taken down by a fish on a heater.

Answer 10

a little of each... of course.

Answer 11

Mostly skill. Sure, luck enters into it, but the better players will come out ahead in the long run.

I once heard something from a poker expert, and it's true. I've never forgotten it.

"During the course of a career, all poker players will get roughly the same amount of good hands and bad hands. Knowing what to do with those hands is what separates the winners from the losers."

Skill obviously plays a much more important role than luck.