For the modern players poker is not gambling. A difficult and strategically played game, where a player has to use his brain to play well against his opponents. Online poker is a fresh new addition after the advent of internet. Poker, gambling or not gambling is a big debatable topic for both the plays and non-players.
We will tell our readers why we think it is not gambling:
There are long term winners
Poker is not gambling as what splits the winners from the losers is skill. Poor poker players lose over the long run while experienced poker players win over the long run. You can look at the greatest real cash game and tournament players in the globe and see how they earn cash year after year.
Big name players such as Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey have made millions of dollars over the courses of their careers. They turn up time and time again at the final table of chief events. They don’t even have normal jobs as they continually carry on making cash with poker.
These pros are not thriving because they are just luckier than the average person. They are pros as they have skill at poker. They have a deep knowledge of poker strategy and can alter their tactics to the players they discover themselves against.
If poker was a gambling game like roulette or craps, there would be no long term winners just as there are no long term winners in those games. The longer the experienced players play poker, the more cash they make. The longer a craps player plays craps, the further he loses. The ingredient of skill makes all the distinction in the game of poker.
You can win with a bad hand
Poker is exceptional from other gambling games in that your beginning cards do not shut your fate. You can be dealt the worst beginning hand at the table and still win the pot through skilful play and trick. This is one more huge point for poker being a game of skill.
In no other gambling game is it possible to influence the game in this way. If the incorrect cards are dealt, or the dice roll the incorrect way in any other game, you lose.
Poker is played against other people and not the house
Poker is exclusive from all other gambling games in that it is played against other players and not against the house. The casino has no stake in who wins or loses – it makes its cash by taking a little cash out of every pot.
Every other gambling game in the casino is played against the house along with a stern set of rules that make certain the house always wins. The games can be “rigged” against the player.
This is not the case in poker. Every person plays under the same rules. Thus, the only way to win cash constantly in poker is to play poker better than your opponents.
Risk and doubt does not make poker gambling
This game is all luck! The skilled player would know a single hand doesn’t tell the whole story. He knows that if he constantly gets his cash in when the odds favour him, it is mathematically certain that he will win cash over the long run. That’s not blind gambling; that’s how you play the odds.
The mere existence of doubt doesn’t make an activity gambling. Investing deals with uncertainty. Professional sports deal with hesitation. There are very few human endeavours that don’t take in some amount of indecision and risk.
You can deliberately lose in poker
Unlike true gambling games, you can deliberately lose in poker. In games such as roulette and keno, you cannot deliberately lose. The decisions you make in those games have no effect on the result. There is no room for skill in those games as it’s all based on luck. There are no “good” or “bad” choices in those games.
When you play poker online against other people under an equal set of rules, the cash you win comes from other people. Skill is the only thing that separates the winners from the losers. The people who make the best decisions win cash from the people who don’t make the best decisions.
Hence, happy gaming!