Is Poker a game of skill or chance has been one of the most divisive questions in history. Recently, a judge in India ruled that Poker is a game of “pure chance”, reiterating the oft-repeated but baseless claims about the dynamics of Poker. In this article, we will establish, with arguments, that Poker is a game of skill.

 

Poker is a Game of Skill Not Chance

Online poker rooms magnetize millions of players who try to assess and polish their skills to land in reality. Of course, luck plays a part too, there is no doubt but it would be inexplicable to refuse that skills must be involved else why would some player constantly win more than their opponent?

A survey from a database of players reveals a significant indication of the role of skills for a successful poker game. A survey was conducted from data of one year. Players that were best-performing for the first six months of the year had twice the chance than others to remain best for the next 6 months too.

On the other hand, players who performed poorly from the beginning continued to lose and never reached the best performers. Thus, this proves that in the game of chance there is no connection between winning of players during continuous periods but in the case of the game of skill, there is an association.

Moreover, a study conducted by the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society showed that players who were given basic strategy advice and instructions performed better than those who were not guided.

To evaluate whether skill dominates chance in Poker, another survey was conducted among skilled and unskilled players to compare their performance.

The results showed that after playing 1,471 hands, three-quarters of the time skilled players performed better than the unskilled ones. It means that after almost 1,500 hands, poker becomes a game of skill.

Thus, poker requires true proficiency so that talent can succeed over blind luck.

As a legal matter, a federal judge Jack B. Weinstein in Brooklyn upturned conviction and vacated the indictment of a man running a backroom poker game.  The judge gave the reason that poker is more a game of skill than chance, hence game operators can’t be prosecuted for running an illegal gambling business.

Poker Tracking software like DriveHUD helps you polish your skills by reading your hand histories so that you can analyze the data and think about alternate ways to play that hand.

Also, Poker Table Rating is a database of every player, tournaments and hand played in past years. You can check on your opponent player to understand their moves and plan your skills accordingly.

This software and data-based analytics and their effects prove that Poker is a skill-based game, which can be learned and improved.

To judge for skill being a major factor in poker, look at other gambling games.

In other gambling games of chance like roulette, it is impossible to intentionally lose as each move has an alike chance.

But it is not like this for poker. In poker, players are a significant factor in their results through the actions they decide to make. If it was a game of chance, players would play to showdown and turn their cards over on the river to let luck decide the winner.

Luck is a non-factor in poker as it is random and it doesn’t favor any player in the long term.

 

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Ace Poker Solutions

We offer the highest EV poker software, and training tools available on the net. These are recommended and used by today’s top poker players from the world. We’ve been doing this since 2009 with the emphasis on offering unique and creative poker software that will help any level of poker player be a more thoughtful and successful player at the table. We’d invite you to check these titles out:

 

PokerZion – Get Started with PokerZion’s Proven Poker Training for $7! From over 12+ years of playing poker, combined with techniques and tactics used to win over $500k+ in cash games, this the most comprehensive structured learning course on no-limit holdem. And it’s only7$! All lessons include a combination of poker training videos, written and audio modules, quizzes and articles. LEARN MORE.

 

Leak Buster Software – Leak Buster is a poker software that interfaces with your Holdem Manager or PokerTracker database, and extracts key statistics about your play in order to find your largest poker leaks. Its unique scoring algorithm weighs the impact of your leak against average win-rates. And it suggests ways to correct those leaks through the use of videos (over 50) and written modules. LEARN MORE.

 

DriveHUD – DriveHUD is a poker database and HUD for your online poker play. It overlays a HUD on your online poker tables, and display vital stats about each opponent on your table. It tracks and records all of the hands that you play online. This allows you to review, re-play, filter, graph and analyze all of the hands you’ve played. So you can improve your poker game. LEARN MORE.

 

ace poker drills

Ace Poker Drills – Ace Poker Drills is a poker training software that gives you a “flash card” style training for Odds and Outs, Equity, and Pre-Flop play. The Pre-Flop trainer will help you to easily recognize which hands to play in different positions. Odds and Outs trainer will get you to quickly calculate your odds and outs in various situations. Equity Trainer will quiz you on equity calculations for different hands. Then you can know your equity in any given scenario. LEARN MORE.