Finally, further confirmation that poker is more skill than luck

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has welcomed a new study “Statistical Analysis of Texas Hold’Em” just released this week which gathered raw data indicating poker games are usually determined by skill of the players rather than pure chance in the drawing of the cards.

A game’s outcome is primarily the result of a player’s decisions such as when to hold and when to fold a hand based on his assessment of other players’ actions in addition to his own cards. It actually becomes a series of decisions not entirely based on the dealt cards alone.

The PPA is working for the legalisation of gambling poker so it will not be categorized as gambling under the law. Its chairman, Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, was heartened by recent court victories earlier this year in Colorado, Pennsylvania and South Caroline declaring poker as essentially a game of skill and not of chance or pure luck.

The latest study results are expected to give a big boost to poker players and other interested members and stakeholders of the poker community to protect poker from being declared as gambling. Judges and juries in the three aforementioned states agreed with the view that poker is predominantly skill than mere luck alone.

PPA executive director John Pappas added his comments that their poker advocacy is not all about players’ egos but rather securing legal protection for the wondrous card game. Giant on-line PokerStars.com commissioned the study with Cigital, Inc. and collected an incredible 103 million dealt hands in Texas Hold’Em that were played on-line in December 2008.

The study has interesting insights. Cigital said more than 75 percent of all games played had their outcomes determined without players looking at their own or the community cards. In the remaining 25 percent of cases where there was a showdown, half of those games were ultimately won by a player with an inferior hand because the better hand had folded earlier.

According to Cigital’s report, more than 75 percent of the cases saw an outcome determined with no player even seeing more than his/her own cards and the community cards. Nearly 25 percent of the games witnessed a showdown where the cards were revealed to determine the winner, but only half of the showdowns were won by the player who had the best five card hand. The other half of the showdowns were won by someone with an inferior hand because the player with the best hand decided to fold prior to showdown.

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