Why Poker is Not a Gambling Game: The Skill Factor

The author participated in a $600 buy-in tournament with a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000 at the Wynn Millions series in Las Vegas. During the tournament, a discussion arose about the differences between poker and other casino games. The author explained that poker is not a gambling game because it requires skill and strategy, unlike other casino games that rely purely on luck.

A study of several hundred thousand hands played online over six months showed that the best hand won only 12% of the time, indicating the importance of skill in poker. Economists Steven Levitt and Thomas Miles found that the most skilled professionals at the 2010 WSOP had a ROI of 30.5%, earning over $1,200 profit per player per tournament, while less skilled players had a negative ROI of 15%.

A 2023 analysis of 91,439 poker players over 40 months, involving over 85 million hands in no-limit hold'em, supported the hypothesis that skill determines player results and earnings in online poker. The study estimated that a beginner needs to play about 57,000 hands, equivalent to 710 hours of practice or approximately 30 days, to reach the level of an experienced poker player. Elissa Harwood presented a legal analysis of poker in the Washington University Law Review, summarizing over a decade of research on poker as a game of skill, including expert opinions from economist and statistician Randall Hibbs.