World Series Proves Poker Tourneys are Games Of Skill

The final table of the World Series of Poker's main event shows, once again, that poker tournaments are games of skill.

Courts have developed tests over the last couple of hundred years to determine whether a particular game is predominantly chance or skill. If courts and prosecutors were honest in applying these tests, at least No Limit Texas Hold'em tournaments would have to be considered skill contests and not gambling.

Let's take a look at the most common tests and what happened on in the last WSOP:

1) A skillful player will win more than an unskillful one. The tournament started 12 days earlier, with 6,358 paying $10,000 each to enter. All the chips that were lost by players went to other players, not the house.

2) Skill can be learned from experience, from real or mock play. Here's how the Associate Press described the nine players at the final table, in the order in which they were eliminated:

Question: If poker is not a game of skill, how can there be professional poker players? No one makes a living playing lotteries.

3) Skill games usually require a knowledge of mathematics and psychological skill. Here's how Yang described his playing style: "I study my opponents very carefully, and when I sensed something, when I sensed some weakness, I took a chance. Even if I had nothing, I decided to raise, reraise, push all-in or make a call."

When courts or attorneys general want to declare a game, such as poker, is predominantly luck, they focus on the fact that cards are involved. The most common argument is that even a complete novice could beat a professional if the amateur were dealt better cards.

This shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how poker is played. Nobody ever sits down to a single hand of poker. And even if they did, the rules of elimination tournaments require that there be more than a single hand.

And poker is not just about being dealt the best cards. We do not yet have the wonderful 20-20 hindsight provided by the cameras that show TV viewers the players' down cards. But we do know at least one important hand.

On the ninth hand of play at the final table, the flop was seven, four and deuce. Yang declared an all-in reraise. His opponent, Lee Childs, folded, showing pocket queens, face up.

Now, maybe Yang had the better hand, with two pair. But maybe not.

It is very possible that Childs' queens were the best cards before the flop. He might still have had the best hand after that flop of little cards. And he might have had the best hand if he had stayed in to the end. But Yang won.

Because it is fundamental to the game of poker that the best hand does not necessarily win.

END

Copyright 2008. Professor I Nelson Rose is recognized as one of the world's leading experts on gambling law.

More Poker News Articles

Moon and Cada Heads-Up, Ivey 7th at WSOP Main Event Final Table
12am Sun Nov 8th, 2009

After a marathon session at the most esteemed table in the poker world, a 21-year-old and a logger are set to go one-on-one for the World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet.

PokerStars Launches New UK and Ireland Poker Tour
12am Wed Nov 4th, 2009

PokerStars.com has announced the start of a new poker tour with stops throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. The UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) will kick off in Galway, Ireland in mid-December, and the first event in the UK will be held in Manchester in February.

Peerless Media Agrees to Purchase World Poker Tour Enterprises
12am Mon Nov 2nd, 2009

According to a Monday press release, WPT Enterprises Inc., mothership of the World Poker Tour, is now the rightful property of Peerless Media, Ltd., subsidiary of online giant PartyGaming.

Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho Hit the Amazing Race Rail
12am Mon Nov 2nd, 2009

After surviving six legs of the Amazing Race by the skin of their teeth, poker pros Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho were finally eliminated in the CBS reality show's most recently aired episode. Michelle and Ho, the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker Main Events, gave reality television fans another chance to watch poker personalities compete away from the felt. Annie Duke garnered quite a following earlier in the year on another reality show competition, NBC's Celebrity Apprentice.

Isaac Baron Dominates Caesars Classic Main Event
12am Sat Oct 31st, 2009

Isaac "westmenloAA" Baron ran over the final table of the Caesars Palace Classic $5,000 Main Event, amassing a huge chip lead and going home with the $246,928 first prize. It took two long days to narrow the 162-person field to the final ten. A very high percentage of the entrants were recognizable tournament circuit players, and unsurprisingly, the stacked field produced a tough final table lineup.

Tonight- ESPN shows Day Before WSOP Main Event Final Nine are Set- Oct 27
12am Tue Oct 27th, 2009

Tonight (Oct. 27) at 9pm ET, ESPN will broadcast highlights of action on the day before the Final Table of the 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event was set. Only 27 players remain when this one-hour show begins.

Frenchman Wins PokerStars EPT Warsaw Poker Tourney
12am Mon Oct 26th, 2009

At the PokerStars European Poker Tour Warsaw No Limit Texas Hold'em main event that wrapped up yesterday, French businessman Christophe Benzimra finished first taking home 358,644 Euros in prize money, while Italian poker pro Alfio Battisti finished second in the tournament.

Vedes Conquers WPT Festa al Lago Final Table
12am Mon Oct 26th, 2009

Tommy Vedes is the WPT's newest champion! Vedes outlasted 274 players to win the Festa al Lago title and the $1,218,225 first prize. Freddy Deeb, who began the final table with the chip lead, hoped to win his third WPT title and tie Gus Hansen's record. Instead, Deeb was forced to settle for 4th place, leaving room for a new WPT champ. Click here for in-depth coverage of the action and photos from the final table.

Will Hungarians Get Taxed on Poker Soon?
12am Mon Oct 26th, 2009

Hungarian lawmakers have plans to tax poker winnings and regulate clubs to generate much-needed revenues during the country's worst economic crisis since the end of communism, reports Germany's Deutsche Weele.

Freddy Deeb Leads World Poker Tour Final Table
12am Sun Oct 25th, 2009

The WPT Festa al Lago Main Event is down to the final six after five tough days of play. Two-time WPT champion Freddy Deeb brings the chip lead along with the benefit of his under-the-lights experience into Monday's televised final table. Deeb previously won the WPT Season III Aruba Poker Classic and the Season VII Celebrity Invitational. He also owns two World Series bracelets and has amassed over $6 million in tournament winnings. A win on Monday would add $1,218,225 to that total. Click here for photos from the felt and final table chip counts.