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Anyone know of a good poker article that explains poker is a skill game?

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  1. Plattsburgh Plattsburgh is offline

    Red Hook, NY
    United States

    Posts: 3,371
    Joined: Aug 05

    Nov 23rd, 2007 (11/23/2007 10:32pm)

    I am trying to convey to a friend of mine why poker is a pretty steady living if you know what you are doing. Are there any good articles you guys have stumbled across from reputable sources?

    -Platts
     
  2. yellowsub yellowsub is offline dive dive dive

    Athens, GA
    United States

    Posts: 1,239
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    Nov 23rd, 2007 (11/23/2007 10:35pm) in reply to Plattsburgh

    Unintentional plattsburgh comedy is really amazing. It only can be rivaled by uninentional HelenRNurse comedy or uninentional zpaceman comedy in his prime.
     
  3. FishOnTilt FishOnTilt is offline

    Sioux City, IA
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    Nov 23rd, 2007 (11/23/2007 10:37pm) in reply to yellowsub

    lol ^^^^
     
  4. Sakalicious Sakalicious is offline

    Cheyenne, WY
    United States

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    Nov 23rd, 2007 (11/23/2007 11:14pm) in reply to Plattsburgh

    I think this is the best ive read, though there are alot of parts not related to the skill of poker rather why it should not be illegal. But its a really good read. Its annie dukes testimony in front of congress.

    http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/...le.php?DID=375
  5. Sakalicious Sakalicious is offline

    Cheyenne, WY
    United States

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    Nov 23rd, 2007 (11/23/2007 11:19pm) in reply to Sakalicious

    Here is the excerpt where she talks about skill of poker

    There is critical distinction between poker and other forms of "gambling" which is the skill level involved to succeed at the game. I cannot stress this point enough: in poker it is better to be skillful than lucky. I ask anyone in this hearing room to name for me the top five professional roulette players in the world or the number one lottery picker in America. It is just not possible (my apologies to one obvious candidate, Congressman Sensenbrenner). We can however have a real discussion about the top five professional poker players, just like we can have a discussion about the top five professional golfers.

    Few can debate the skill elements involved to be successful at poker. From mathematics and probability to psychology and money management, numerous authors and academics have drawn analogies between poker and other endeavors that involve strategic thinking. John Von Neumann regarded as the greatest mind of the first part of the 20 century used analysis of the game of poker in his seminal book on game theory, "Theory of Games and Economic Behavior" as a method of modeling decision-making under incomplete information. When asked why he did not use chess he deferred to the skill elements of poker which encompass all aspects of human intellect, calling chess not a game but merely an exercise in calculation.

    Everyone agrees that the betting elements and hand selection involved in poker are skill elements. But I hear people say all the time that poker is only a game of skill for good players and the vast majority of recreational players are playing a game of luck. This is as absurd as asserting that bad golfers are playing a game of luck while only the pro golfers are playing a game of skill. If we all agree that puffing and driving and other elements of golf are skill components then whether someone is a good putter or a bad putter doesn't change whether putting is a skill or not. It is the same in poker. If someone is poor at betting or good at betting has no bearing on whether the betting component of the game itself is a skill component.

    Go into any bookstore in America and you will likely find a display table covered in books about how to play poker and poker theory. The fact that one can learn poker and get better over time is clear evidence that skill is a dominant factor in the game.

    I will concede that chance does play a role in poker. But it is true that chance plays a role in every human activity. Chance plays a role in getting through a traffic light safely. We know that is true because people who exactly follow the rules of the road get in accidents every day across America because of chance. And yet no one is claiming that driving is a game of chance and not a skill! Poker is a game of skill with an element of chance. But to call poker pure chance is just pure ignorance.

    To further explain this point, let me try to illustrate it in two ways. If I could program a robot with the rules of poker, when to decide to check, raise, fold, etc. -- but gave it no "skill" so that it made these decisions randomly, that robot would lose nearly 100% of the hands in which it participated.

    For those not content with the example of the robot, let me try another approach. One defining characteristic of games of skill is this: a player or team can intentionally lose. If I suggested that you should play slots, roulette, baccarat, or lottery and seek to lose, you could no more make yourself lose than you could make yourself win, as long as you continued playing. However, at golf, tennis, baseball or other games of skill it is entirely possible to lose on purpose. Losing on purpose is playing in defiance of the concept of skill, and thus proves the existence of the skill element in the game.
  6. rocket5 rocket5 is online now

    MA
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    Nov 23rd, 2007 (11/23/2007 11:24pm) in reply to Plattsburgh

    i can't believe the last time you said you were alive was at a fucking card table.
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