Poker is Not Gambling

• Share

• Share

Poker has been a controversial topic for as long as we can remember. A lot of people consider it gambling while those who have made careers out of it think of it as a game of strategy just like any other sport that has a combination of luck and skill. Nevertheless, most people continue to consider it a vice. Of course, that doesn’t stop them from playing the game whenever the occasion calls for it. In fact, kings and queens, and even presidents and ministers are known to have indulged in it time and again; such is the allure of poker.

Having said that, anyone who truly understands what poker is all about will tell you that playing poker is not about gambling at all. It’s not some game where you throw the dice and are at the mercy of your luck thereon. Neither is it a game with insurmountable odds such as the lottery, which quite surprisingly is not considered illegal in many countries that frown upon gambling.

Skill over luck

In order to win at poker, a person needs to have the skill and knowledge that are needed to make good choices even when the hand is not in your favor. In fact, even if you have a great hand and don’t know how to make the best use of your cards, you can end up winning nothing at all. Sure, even great players need good hands to make windfall returns, but then again, how many sports or games can you really think of where luck doesn’t play some role?

Regardless of whether it’s poker, football or any other game, we can achieve success in it only by acquiring and making good use of the knowledge, effort, and skills that go with it. If you’ve spent a lot of time carefully playing poker and understanding the various aspects of the game religiously, the effort will bring in good returns for you as long as you’re careful and do not over indulge.

Do your homework

To give you a perspective, let us consider investing in stocks as an example. It could be considered somewhat analogous to playing poker. Investing in stock involves looking at the trends and understanding how the market forces change. The more informed and skilled you are, the better are your chances of making good returns. However, at no point in time are you fully in control of your destiny when it comes to the stock market. Millions of people who have lost their life savings due to careless investments or sudden changes in the economy will testify to that. On the other hand, those who have a lot of experience and know exactly how to best handle each situation usually end up making more money than losing it.

That’s just how poker works. While you can never really predict what cards you’ll receive, with practice you can definitely figure out how much or how little you may win or lose based on your hand. Is there a risk of having an entirely bad day? Sure, there is. But risk is a part of every business. You cannot start a business without taking a certain amount of risk, and the more experienced you get at something, the higher your returns get and the lower the risks become.

Poker is like any other business

When starting a new company, you do extensive research on the market, the demand, and a number of other factors. But even after doing all that, there is always a chance that the enterprise won’t break even. In fact, as per Robert Kiyosaki of Rich Dad Poor Dad, 9 out of 10 businesses fail in their first five years, and out of those who survive their first 5 years, 9 out of 10 fail in the next five. In other words, only one in a hundred businesses survives for more than ten years. That’s similar to how poker can be. Not everyone has what it takes to be good at it. But if you do have it in you, you can have an amazing career as a professional poker player.

Players like Phil Hellmuth and Doyle Brunson do win more than they lose – and they win big. They’re millionaires who have made a living – a quite grandiose one at that – just by playing good poker for decades. It’s all about polishing your skills, being extremely good at reading people, and having a killer stamina to sit long hours at the table without flinching or letting your attention waver. Furthermore, you also have to take it slow. While some people experience a meteoric rise in their career, most people whom you see at the top of the ladder in professional poker have made it after years of consistent practice and devotion to learning all the tricks and trades of the game.

Conclusion

While you play poker, you have to see your cards and figure out how good or bad they are. You have to figure out what your probability of winning that hand is, and that probability further decides how much money you should bet. If you realize that your hand is good, you know that your probability of winning is higher, and therefore, you may bet higher. On the other hand, if you see that your hand isn’t good enough, you may not win everything, which means you should bet conservatively for that particular round. Sometimes, when you think that the moment is right and no one can predict what your cards are, you may even bluff by raising the stakes and get away with it. None of these decisions are the outcome of luck.

In fact, let’s look at it the other way. If you’re not interested in making a career and wish to just indulge in some form of gambling for money – say you’re in a casino, you have some money you can afford to lose, and you feel like you’re having a lucky day – you’re better off playing games such as roulette where there’s absolutely no decision making involved other than randomly choosing an expected outcome and betting money on it.