WSJ: Harvard Ponders Just What It Takes to Excel at Poker

[Foucault]

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I think the most effective argument is to start two players out with $X. Have one player employee strategy, have the other purposefully try to lose it all as fast as possible.

This should clearly demonstrate there are winning and losing strategies and by simple implication, skill.

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At this meeting, Lederer suggested a similar proof that is also probably a bit more rigorous. Suppose your opponent employed a completely skill-less strategy, ie choosing randomly whether to raise, fold, or call at every decision point, without regard to the strength of his hand or anything else. Lederer claims he can demonstrate mathematically that he could beat this strategy 96.5% of the time ON ANY GIVEN HAND.