October 2008 Archives

IS poker a game of skill or luck?

A debate that has raged for generations, and one which I believe I now have an answer to. It is categorically, definitely and indisputably a game of chance.

The five per cent of hands where your talent and intuitive reading of the cards pays off, is easily outweighed by the 95 per cent of encounters where the God of poker spits in your eye and rakes your chips.

Playing online for the past 18 months, I have seen my game steadily fall apart.

While the subtlety and skill of reading your adversary's tells may be eradicated online, I am told that the truly adept gambler should still be able to study betting patterns and get to know these online opponents. So surely there is room online for subtle check raises, cheeky bluffs and elaborate traps?

Maybe on the $200/$400 tables populated by the ultra-rich and the ultra-good, but not in the $12 tournaments which I can afford. For my money I would have to say that online poker is a little bit like James Blunt's music career, a lack of talent is no impediment to success.

Now what are the chances of this happening!!

God, I hate poker.

There are times in this ugly, beautiful, game when you are brought so low that you actually feel physically sick.

Suffer a really bad beat and it's like you've been kicked in the stomach by a bucking mule.
I've been playing No Limit on Pokerstars and a couple of other sites for a few years now and have made a nice little profit.

But it could have been so much more if the cruel Poker Gods had not cursed me with such cold decks.
Sometimes you KNOW you have lost a hand before you see the river. Here's a terrible case in point.

''The next best thing to gambling and winning is gambling and losing.'' Nick "The Greek" Dandalos

Texas Hold 'Em Poker, as every steely-eyed professional or dreamy amateur will tell you, is a game of skill.
Unless, that is, you suffer the eyeball-popping pain of a truly horrific bad beat - then it's all down to just plain goddam luck.

This blog is a tribute to those No Limit poker players who snatched cruel defeat from the jaws of certain victory when the deck went as cold as ice.

Read how players villa777 and golds1983 dealt with the injustice and misery of their own bad beats on the internet and in live games - which cost them chips, cash and sleepless nights.

The blog also features videos of some of the worst beats in No Limit poker history, as well as tips on how to avoid becoming a fish at the table.