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The debate on whether poker is just another gambling game has been raging for as long as the game has existed, with plenty of people in both camps adamantly supporting their theory.
While plenty of poker pros sit in one corner and explain all the reasons why poker is not just pure gambling, plenty of recreational players who don’t want to go that deep still consider it a pure game of chance.
But is poker gambling or not? How does the game differ from other games of chance? Is there a certain way to say you will win at poker?
These are the questions we seek to answer in this article.
By most definitions, gambling is the act of risking a thing of value in a wager on an event with an uncertain outcome.
If we think about gambling in this way, we notice that many things we do in our everyday lives also fall under the definition of gambling, as most things in life are uncertain.
Buying stock or making financial investments into a business would certainly match the definition, as the outcome of any investment is far from certain, even if you expect to make money by making it.
Even more mundane things in life that require payment can be considered gambling, as there is no telling if the steak you are paying for will be prepared the way you like it or whether the delivery you ordered will be there on time.
Life is full of little things that all have a dose of uncertainty to them, and in some way, we are gambling every single day whether we like it or not.
By this same definition, poker, too, is gambling, as the outcome of every poker hand is uncertain, even if the odds are stacked in your favor.
Indeed, there is no denying that the game of poker has an element of gambling. This short-term luck, which poker players refer to as variance, is an integral part of the game that players must learn to live with.
But there is much more to poker than betting money and flipping cards to let destiny decide the winner, and there are plenty of reasons why poker is much more than just another gambling game.
Of course, if you know how to play poker, you know that there is a lot more to the game than pure luck and that your decisions have a very real impact on your outcome.
Sure enough, making the wrong decision can also cost you money, but this is exactly the reason why poker is not a gambling game. Players who make worse decisions end up losing, and players who make better ones end up winning the money.
The skill element in poker encompasses a vast array of different things, starting from preflop hand selection to understanding the odds, sizing your bets, and knowing when to fold your cards.
If you were to play blind against a good poker player who sees their cards, you would be losing tons of money very fast, and this is not something that could be said in gambling games.
For example, you can play slots blindly, deafly, or without being present while the machine is spinning and still win or lose by pure chance.
In poker, you will have to do a lot more than put some money in a slot machine in order to win, and if you do things wrong, you are almost certainly going to lose.
We have all been there, watching a drunk maniac who can’t play poker to save his life run over the table and win pot after pot, stacking hundreds of chips in uneven piles in front of him.
Almost every time, this same drunk guy ends up giving it all back before the night is over and walking away with nothing but a story he probably can’t even remember the next day.
While watching this guy win hand after hand, you may end up wondering if poker maybe is just about luck and if this guy is going to win regardless of the way he plays.
Inevitably, players like this always lose pretty fast, and their short run of good cards ends almost as seamlessly as it started, with every chip going back into the poker economy.
The impact of luck in poker is going to depend on your level of skill compared to your opponents. If you are a great poker player playing against very bad players, luck usually won’t even matter in a single session.
If you are an average poker player playing against other average poker players, the outcome of every session is likely to come down to who gets better cards on the night.
If you are a terrible poker player competing with better opponents, you are likely to dust off your stack eight times out of ten, perhaps walking away with an occasional win when you run extremely well and get up in time.
Over the long run, players who play enough hands of poker get results that match their skill level and that of their opposition, with luck playing nearly no part in the overall results.
Most people who don’t play poker don’t understand the main differences between poker and other gambling games.
Games like blackjack, roulette, baccarat, craps, or even video poker share one main thing in that they are played against the house.
In each of these gambling games, players wager money against the house on games whose games are designed in a way that gives the house an edge over the players.
This edge may be as low as one or two percent in some games, but it is there, and you cannot change it.
If you play any gambling game enough, you will end up losing, and it is possible to calculate exactly how much you will lose over the long run.
Poker, on the other hand, is not played against the house. The casino is not interested in any particular player winning or losing but rather in keeping the game running.
The casino charges a small portion of every pot (or tournament buy-in) regardless of the winner, and the game is not designed to favor anyone.
While it is easy to assume the winner will still be decided by who has the best hand at showdown, same as in blackjack or casino Hold’em, this is not quite the case, as hands don’t always go to showdown in poker.
What’s even more, the size of the pot matters a lot, and players get to directly affect the size of the pot by making bets, calling, raising, and deciding when to put chips into the pot and when not to.
Poker is a game in which every player must make at least four decisions before reaching showdown, and often more than that, and each of these decisions has a financial impact.
Hence, poker can’t really be compared to any other casino games, as the very nature of the game is different, and the player’s opponent is not the house but rather other players seated at the tables.
Yet, regardless of whether poker is gambling or a game of skill, there is no denying that many people have gone broke playing poker and even ended up in debt because of the game.
Those closest to such individuals may be quick to say it was all because they gambled and played a game of chance, but the actual answer is usually different.
People who go broke playing poker either don’t play the game very well, play against better opponents regularly, or simply play too high stakes for their own good.
The first two reasons are self-explanatory. If you play the game against better players, you will inevitably get wiped out in time.
The third is a bit more subtle and nuanced and requires a more sophisticated understanding of the game of poker.
Because of the inherent variance in poker (the luck factor), winning requires you to maintain a bankroll that can help you sustain any short-term losses.
Regardless of how good you are, you will lose some pots and even some sessions, and that means you will need more than a single buy-in to play the game.
In fact, professional poker players recommend having dozens, if not hundreds, of buy-ins for the games you are playing in your bankroll before you go into the game.
Depending on the game type you play and its associated variance, the bankroll will be necessary to sustain losing stretches.
The vast majority of people who lose it all playing poker do so because they play way above their heads and don’t have the bankroll to succeed, even if they happen to have the necessary skills.
If there is any doubt about whether poker is gambling or a game of skill, the final piece of the puzzle comes in the form of pure statistics.
Looking over the long-term results of poker professionals in both live and online poker, there is no denying that some people simply play poker better than others.
Online poker has especially given us a chance to keep track of stats, as all online results are recorded and cannot be lied about.
Hundreds of professional poker players have made millions of dollars playing online poker, with upward graphs that tell the tale of their success far better than words could ever describe.
Whatever theory about poker you subscribe to, the continued success of particular players in both tournament and cash game streets demonstrates that poker is very much a game of skill.
At the end of the day, the game partially survives because there are players out there who believe it to be all about luck, but if you still believe that, we recommend you think again and try educating yourself about poker before playing your next session.
Many people turn to poker because they want the promise of making a living playing a game and not working a 9-5 job at the office.
This promise is a real one, but one that does not come without any blood, sweat, and tears, as it’s much harder to win significant money at poker than it is to be a decent employee in your selected field.
Only a small percentage of poker players ever become good enough and consistent enough to win the game long-term, and getting there takes a lot of study, dedication, and willpower.
Suppose you think you have what it takes to succeed at poker. In that case, we recommend you start at the very bottom, mastering the fundamentals and moving up with proper poker coaching, appropriate stakes, and a lot of patience.
If you have the feeling you need to sharpen up your game then Pokercode is a great place to start. Sign up for a free account and set your first steps towards becoming a better poker player.
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