Poker a game of chance or skill?

Is poker a game of luck or skill? People who aren't students of the game will debate this question vigorously. For those of us who do study the game the obvious answer is...Yes! Both luck and skill are factors. You have very little control over your luck (what control you do have will be the subject of a future post) but you do control your how seriously you pursue honing your skills. Still it is nice to get lucky every now and then. Given enough time all players will have the same luck with the cards. In other words over time you will get just as many good hands and poor hands as other players. The difference there fore between a long term winner and a long term loser is what you do with those hands. You can play poker and not have it be much of a gamble by only entering pots with premium starting hands. Most of the time this strategy will pay off. It's tough to beat the rake this way and of course you will suffer some bad beats. Most likely you will over time break even or make a little money but at least you won't lose much. Or you can gamble by pushing you chips in on long shots and hunches. Playing this way is characterized by huge swings in you bank roll because sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get burned. This is an exciting way to play but ultimately the players with this style of play have to lie to themselves about the results they are getting. Depending on how the cards fall you can make a lot of money. But the majority of the time you will walk away with many fewer chips than you started with. The gambler is were the majority of your profits as a serious poker player will come from. Controlled aggression describes most professional poker players. He doesn't rely on luck nor is he a rock playing only premium hands. He will fold as many times as necessary until the time is right taking calculated risks when necessary to maximize the value of his hands. Poker Resources Featured Poker Rooms: Absolute Poker Full Tilt Poker UltimateBet PokerStars Learn to Play Poker Profitably the right way: Sit N Go Pro Outstanding Poker