[AaronBrown]

Poker is a very simple card game, so almost anyone can master the cardplay pretty easily. Most players don't, but that's not what you're asking about.

Another essential skill, but reasonably easy to master for most people as long as the stakes don't matter to them, is mildly deceptive play. You obviously can't give your hand away with your play or tells, and to be pretty good you also need to mix things up a bit.

There are two things that make poker hard. First is playing for meaningful stakes. Suddenly simple cardplay decisions seems complicated, and you can't stop your hand shaking slightly when you see pocket Aces, and you torture yourself over what you did on the last hand. Second is trying to win, as opposed to not lose. If you're satisfied with being a very small winner on average, in boring games for you and others, it's something most people can accomplish.