Why Poker Will Never Be Ruled a Game of Skill by the U.S.
The argument has been raging for years regarding whether or not poker is a game of skill. As poker players, we all know that poker is primarily a game of skill. Luck does indeed play a factor, but the truly successful players are the most skillful. Now with that being said, I personally don’t ever think that the U.S. will ever deem poker as a game of skill.
First, if a person that is investigating poker wants to find an argument of luck being more prevalent than skill, all they need to do is sit down at the lower limit tables. Let them sit at the tables and they will see all types of hands win that a skillful player would not play. There are not very many “skillful” players at the lower limits of many poker games. As the result, the person observing will notice that the person catching the most cards comes out the winner. That is indeed the case in many lower limit games.
Next, short term luck can make superstars or World Champions out of any player. Robert Varkonyi was a great example a few years back. He won the 2002 Main Event of the World Series of Poker and really has not done much of anything since. He finally cashed in the Main Event in 2007 for the first time since his win, but his resume is the epitome of someone that got lucky once and was not able to reproduce the same success. There are many players that fall victim to this. While this makes the argument of skill over luck stronger in a way, it also shows that huge windfalls can be made via short term luck.
Phil Hellmuth made a great point stating, “If it wasn’t for luck, I’d win every one.” He is correct. If luck was not a part of poker, the skillful players would indeed win every time. That is part of the attraction of poker. The luckboxes do hit and come back and donk off their money over time. However, the fact remains that they do hit. Luck plays a part in poker. As you move up in stakes and experience levels, skill takes over. In the end, I think that luck will play too much of a factor in the game for U.S. lawmakers to ever be able to successfully declare poker a game of skill. I personally hope that I am proven wrong, but I don’t believe I will be.
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