Poker - Luck vs. Skill (how to win in the long run)

It always kills me when people say there is no skill involved in poker, that it's all luck since your playing cards. Well of course there is luck involved, as there is with ANYTHING that involves random principles. Where skill becomes involved, is how you play the numbers in the long run to stay in the black. If luck was the ONLY factor in gambling, how do casinos stay in business? They do because they have a small edge due to the "house rules". These rules are the rules that the table games follow that allow the casino to make money because of the Law of Large Numbers (Law of Averages). The Law basically states that in the long run, averages WILL play out. BUT, because of the "house rules" and the edge that it gives the casino, the casino will still make money. If you plan to stay in the game in the long run, you need to give yourself the same edge if you play poker. This is where skill becomes involved. Sure you may suffer some pretty bad beats, have several losing sessions in a row. But if you play enough, the Law of Averages will also allow you to give out bad beats and have several winning sessions in a row. Now, if you add skill and discipline into the mix, you can maximize your wins during those winning streaks and minimize your losses during losing streaks as well as sometimes turning what can be a losing session into a small winning session. This is the difference between one who plays cards, and a cardplayer. If you want more advice playing poker, there are MANY online resources available or my recommendation is to buy a poker book. The best free advice I can think of is reading the poker or card player magazines they have lying around in the card rooms at casinos . There are some really good articles by pros and semi-pros in there. Also you can visit another blog maintained by an acquaintance of mine http://pokerkaiedmonton.blogspot.com/ . He is a professional poker player who lives in the same city as me, and I've had the opportunity to see him in live action a couple of times. He's a really good player.

Remember, there definitely is luck involved in poker, but if you want a profitable long-run in poker, learn and develop discipline and skill. Good luck out there!

"The trick to happiness is not learning to get what you want, but to learn to want what you get." - Unknown