Luck Versus Skill in Poker

The debate rages on. In the UK a recent court decision seems to put the emphasis on the luck side, as far as the law is concerned, and if you ask most players you will hear that skill is what drives the winners in poker. Which is it? Well, both. Even the pros will tell you that it takes both luck and skill to win in poker, but it isn't as simple as all that.

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Anyone taking an honest look at the game of poker would admit that luck plays a factor, but skill is what separates the long term winners from the short term "jackpot winners", which really can be long term losers in the end.

The pros will tell you, as will anyone who has played poker for a while, that skill makes the difference between winning a hand with a lucky break and winning a tournament, or even more so "winning" a cash game.

But the pros will also tell you that lately luck has become more and more of a factor in one particular arena, the No Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament. This creature is what got the poker craze buzzing in the first place, and this is the game most people play these days when they play poker. Because there are so many players out there who, frankly, don't know what they are doing, many of them are hitting it lucky and winning tournaments.

When you look at these same players a year or two later, where they are will tell you how much of their game depends on luck.

Another interesting factor is that luck plays bigger later in a tournament than earlier. As the blinds fly up to amazingly high levels, no player has a chip stack left that can compensate, and luck becomes more important. The skill comes in knowing how to position yourself to take advantage of those lucky moments you needed in order to win.

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