If I play my cards right: is poker a game of skill or luck?

[TightEnd]

If I play my cards right: is poker a game of skill or luck?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100190715/if-i-play-my-cards-right-is-poker-a-game-of-skill-or-luck/

The comments section is fun

I think the player he plays is Ken Wong at the Vic


The original article is at

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100178222/is-skill-at-poker-and-elsewhere-just-one-great-big-bluff/



thoughts on the articles....

[kinboshi]

Good articles, difficult concept for non-poker players to understand - especially when some poker players can't grasp the basic concepts of probability.

[pokerfan]

I have long believed that luck is a major factor as to who wins a poker tournament. Obviously in the long run the best players will win the money, but over 1, 5 or 10 events luck has a major influence.


C&P job ^ guess who.

Clue, it's over 8 years old.

[Honeybadger]

I have long believed that luck is a major factor as to who wins a poker tournament. Obviously in the long run the best players will win the money, but over 1, 5 or 10 years luck has a major influence.

FYQ ... have we been here before lol?

[kinboshi]

I have long believed that luck is a major factor as to who wins a poker tournament. Obviously in the long run the best players will win the money, but over 1, 5 or 10 events luck has a major influence.


C&P job ^ guess who.

Clue, it's over 8 years old.

Trigg innit?

[pokerfan]

I have long believed that luck is a major factor as to who wins a poker tournament. Obviously in the long run the best players will win the money, but over 1, 5 or 10 events luck has a major influence.


C&P job ^ guess who.

Clue, it's over 8 years old.

Trigg innit?

Nah, but similar.

[kinboshi]

I have long believed that luck is a major factor as to who wins a poker tournament. Obviously in the long run the best players will win the money, but over 1, 5 or 10 events luck has a major influence.


C&P job ^ guess who.

Clue, it's over 8 years old.

Trigg innit?

Nah, but similar.

Alan Davies?

[pokerfan]

I have long believed that luck is a major factor as to who wins a poker tournament. Obviously in the long run the best players will win the money, but over 1, 5 or 10 events luck has a major influence.


C&P job ^ guess who.

Clue, it's over 8 years old.

Trigg innit?

Nah, but similar.

Alan Davies?

Ha, meant the content.

Reg poster though.

[skolsuper]

LeKnave?

[TightEnd]

....

[jgcblack]

....

genuinely loll'd i love these things... i made a thread about them a while ago..

[pokerfan]

LeKnave?

The Camel.

[smashedagain]

....

genuinely loll'd i love these things... i made a thread about them a while ago..

bump the tread. I love these. Alex does some good ones

[BorntoBubble]

Good article just read through now, cannot help be feel that it is not great for poker though to have much publicity about the pro will always beat the fish in the long run although hopefully some people read into it that anyone has a chance. to feed one pro earning say £30,000 a year its going to take 10-20 losing players to feed that pro at least! I wonder how many new players read poker is a game of luck, i will play. Or read poker is a game of skill filled with professionals i am going to take my chance!

[JK]

Thought this comment wasnt bad lol

Suppose two players played a series of chess games according to the following rule: the loser of each chess game pays £1 to the winner.  Then they toss a coin and the loser of the coin-flip pays £10 to the winner of the flip.

That combined game is like one hand of poker.

If a novice plays against a grandmaster, then after one game whoever won the coin flip will be ahead, either by £9 or by £11.

After 100 games, there's still an excellent chance that the novice will be ahead, maybe well over £100 ahead.

But after a thousand games, the chance that the novice will be ahead will be on the order of one percent.  And as they play more hands, that chance will keep on dropping, effectively to zero.

That is what poker is like.  After 100000 hands, the grandmaster will have won at least £90000 or so from the novice.  Of course, few players play 100000 games of chess, but most internet pros play far more than 100000 hands of poker.