[Skallagrim]

Finally, a smart post.

Dont disagree with anything you have said, Engineer. But what you have said will not, at least legally, lead to the conclusion that blackjack is MOSTLY SKILL. Making money at blackjack is a skill, indeed. But blackjack the game is all probability/chance. Get good at that, and the other skills you describe (and dont get noticed) and you can be a winning blackjack player OVER THE LONG RUN.

But you cant do it without getting the cards. If you are the unluckiest person on earth such that your personal cards were way off the probability charts and are always bad, even counting wont save you. IT STILL DEPENDS ON THE CARDS.

I am not denigrating the amount of skill it takes to be a winning blackjack player. I am saying that winning in blackjack is ALWAYS determined by the cards, though influenced by the player. And what cards you or the dealer get is never a result of skill. And thats true also in poker.

BUT, you will agree with me, you can win (sometimes) in poker regardless of your cards. Thats what pushes poker over the "mostly skill" hurdle and makes it different legally, IMHO.

Skallagrim