Joined: Feb '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 35 (M)
Posts: 1886
Ahh the old question, the subject of many threads. Is poker a game os skill or luck? We always get some idiots saying poker is 90% luck who have no business posting in a forum like this. All good poker players should know that there is a great deal of luck involved in poker but chance evens out whilst maths and logic do not, which means long term poker is close to 100% skill.
I would like to add another factor; poker is also a matter of money: if you have lots of money, you have more advantatge to win, because you don't care about rebuys, addons, ...
Poker is not only about playing the top hands, but rather how you play your hands, the position you play them, how much you raise, what bet-size you do on the flop/river/turn, even when you do a semi-bluff, you have to consider all this factors to be +ev on the long run. Therefore, even if you play only AA, KK, QQ etc., but play those hands very weak, you will be a losing player.
So, its clearly a NO, its not about luck. Its a skill game based on maths and strategy.
I'm currently working hard on my game, thus, I recently read two books of David Sklansky and it improved my game a lot. (I was sick of big swings, "variance", and those weak moments I had, when I was not sure, if I should fold or call/re-raise. )
Now my play is almost perfect, I will upload a screen of my HEM stats, as a proof, in a few minutes...
This is nothing for real yet, though, I'm just preparing myself for the SNE grind on pokerstars. I played the almost 24k hands in two days, by multitabling. (12 tables/deep stacked/short handed) Its a big change from PLO HU/DON to NL holdem, SH. But I will probably start higher than $0,05/0,1 NL, but for now its ok for practicing.
Joined: Feb '09
Location: Belgium
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 686
30%luck, 35% skills (feeling, reads, strategic creativity, bluff), 35%mathematic (and thus logic) Thats how i see things ! And i think im just gonna win the sunday million then go to Harvard
Joined: Mar '08
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 44 (M)
Posts: 6714
Its actually logical luck. You play your odds and with a bi of luck youll do OK. Ofcause you could be an unlucky one and lose all the time even tho you have good odds.
Joined: May '09
Location: Italy
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 272
Posted by cyberbabel: do you believe poker is a logical game, using a set of logical rules, or that players rely on luck itself?
i just read that harvard people are hard into poker, and encouraging students to play it, while talking about the logical aspects of the game...
what do you think?
this is a better question than mine ! Poker is allways a logical game ! you follow allways a logic ! not allways a good logic but .... if you think about what to do ... that's logic !
if you think i have 6-7 suited and you think "it can be flush or straight !" it's logic ! not really a good logic but it is !
Joined: Mar '10
Location: Germany
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 69
If you're watching high stakes poker on youtube or going to a real championchip, you'll see that there is more than luck. You need to read your opponents correctly so that you might avoid some tough calls which are unneccessary. But luck, well its a kind of subjective perception, you'll find everytime. Mostly if you're playing just several hands. In long terms, you can calculate to optimize your winnings.
Joined: Oct '09
Location: Germany
Age: 40 (M)
Posts: 6
If you watch the pros in mtts you'll see they minimize the part of luck while playing small pots. so they aren't potcommitted any time of the hand. I think thats a part of why they are playing so well.
)
By the way, I think a big mental strenght is essential too 
