OK so how would you go about showing poker is a game of skill?

[PartyGirlUK]

Easier said that done, perhaps.

[Zele]

Recently I read Chen and Ankenman's Mathematics of Poker and found myself thinking that that book, or at least some examples from that book, would be excellent for the purpose of showing poker to be a game of skill.

[ltcuoi]

It takes skill to bluff but when you bluff you are gambling your money.

Poker is gambling.

[Zele]

I'm not sure what poker being gambling has to do with whether or not poker is a game of skill.

[repulse]

Construct simplified poker situations with general and specific large differences in play skill between players at the table and derive the expectations of each player. Observe that the more rational/strategic players have positive expectation at the expense of the clearly irrational players.

Then supply statistically significant real-world evidence as to the existence of players with positive expected value in poker games.

Anyone who would not be convinced at this point would either be confusing the question at hand or presupposing that basic probability theory is voodoo.

[KEW]

This would be a good topic in the "Sklansky forum"..IIRC he has come on this forum and said proving poker is a game of skill will be when he will become a major force..Or something like that..

[demon102]

this is sooooooooooooooooooo easy, some pro poker player took the irs to court back in the day saying that his $1 mill poker winnings should not be taxed the same as gambling winnings, the lawyers for the irs argued that there was luck involved so it was gambling, the judge said to the lawyers play the poker player heads up and then tell me what u think.

[Howard Beale]

Bring the person you want to convince to a big bookstore and show him the gigantic selection of instructional poker books and point out the strategy elements in them. Compare them to the chess books and the craps books and point out that while poker is still gambling it can be played 'properly' and that poker lies somewhere between a game of pure skill like chess and simple luck like craps.

[ltcuoi]

Money is involved so it's gambling.

[Emperor]

[ QUOTE ]
Easier said that done, perhaps.


[/ QUOTE ]

I would start by proving that everything else in life is gambling, then I would add that skill can overcome luck in most things in life, poker is one of these.

[ QUOTE ]
Money is involved so it's gambling.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly, same with any other action with unknown variables affecting the outcome.

like stocks, golf, any profession, etc...

However, some things that are gambling, can have such a skill element as to be profitable over time, a profession is one of them, a sport is one of them, poker is one of them.

Pit games vs the house aren't.