Poker - Skill or Luck?

I have had this debate with numerous folks over the years. While this is painting with a wide brush, generally the non-players (poker, that is) think there's a very high degree of luck involved in winning. Obviously, serious players and students of the game think the opposite.

"Skill" is generally defined as an ability acquired through training and experience. (Of course there are other definitions, but let's use this one today.) We'll tackle "luck" at the end.

Anybody that has played a lot of poker knows that there are skill sets that will help you get "into the money". It's relatively easy to figure out the hold 'em starting power hands. Those are the obvious ones, A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J, A-K suited, etc. If you want the shortcut, try one of the many books written by past champions or the poker experts. But poker is much more than the top 10 or top 20 hands.

There's that pesky qualifier called 'position'. Position is what makes cards like an unsuited K-Q alright to play later in the hand, but not so good early in the hand. Why? Because there are still a lot of ways to get beat if you're acting early with a lot of people in the game, but if a lot of the table folds or simply calls the big blind (no raises) and you're last to act, you've got a couple of fairly powerful cards. This is not something that is necessarily intuitive to new players.

They see a couple of face cards and start throwing their money in the pot - often with negative results. I'm happy to report that some players have to do this repeatedly before they learn. I always hope that I'm at that table when they play this way, too! They are paying for, or buying, their experience - definitely the hard road to follow.

It is worse when they've gotten 'lucky' with those cards previously. Because it won once or twice, they think it's a sure thing and play those cards with abandon - a costly mistake.

Another aspect of poker training is 'reading' your opponent. Does he or she act a certain way when they hold a strong hand, a weak hand? Are there physical clues? I play with a nice guy who's a good poker player, but when he gets a monster hand, his hands literally tremble. Pretty easy to see and figure out. Others have clues that are more subtle, but there for the observant to notice. These clues, by the way, are called 'tells'.

Is somebody prone to bluffing? How about the guy that raises every pot if he holds an ace with any other card-in any position? This are all training to the serious poker player. The best training is often simply to play more and more and to observe more and more and more.

Now for luck. We've all experienced lucky (and unlucky) breaks. You can call it the law of averages, fate, destiny, whatever you wish. Nothing is 100% true all of the time. You can have the best starting poker hand with two cards in hold 'em and still get smoked and lose a lot of chips. If I had a gallon of gas for every time my two aces lost, I could hit the road for very, very long time. Interestingly, the term 'pressing your luck' pretty much means to risk your good fortune, often by acting out of overconfidence. I call that inexperience, which is why playing poker is clearly a game of skill.

Benjamin Franklin said that "diligence is the mother of good luck", but you're probably more familiar with this paraphrased quote attributed to many, including Samuel Goldwyn and Gary Player, amongst others: "The harder I work the luckier I get."

As it is with any venture, it is also true of poker. Don't stop analyzing your game, your opponents, your actions and reactions, or theirs. Poker is not a science, but an understanding of mathematical odds doesn't hurt, either. If you're going to play, keep your eyes and mind open.