Is Poker - Online Poker, Casino Poker Mostly Luck?

How much of poker is luck, articles we get an NoPayPOKER seem to think it's 95% luck.

We rather think it's not an absolute figure or even close to, much more dependent on player skill - Like top 10 WSOP Pros or top winners at leading free online poker sites will have a much lower belief and dependence  on luck that an all-in donkin fish loony

What do you think? Comments please!

Do you ever ask yourself if your poker play is better than average? Well you should! Here’s what I mean -

• When you’re playing at a poker table, do you have more than the average chip stack?
• Do you have more than the average of the people in the poker tourney?

If you don’t you need to have a plan, because playing below average will make you a net loser in the long run.

The exception would be that some people use a short-stack strategy at cash tables. This can be profitable depending on your strategy, but even those folks will tell you, their goal isn’t to remain small. They’re plan is usually to take a shot (somewhat risky) to double up at the first good opportunity. In poker, chips are power. If you're not specifically planning to play that way, when you sit down at a cash table, you shouldn't be buying in for less than the average. Hopefully you have enough $ to buy in for the most.

In poker tournaments, keeping an idea where you stand as far as average can be very helpful. Sometimes you may lose a big hand and feel the tilt coming on, but what if you looked it up and realized you still had an average stack, or even more than the average player still in the game? The beat might still hurt or you might still be sick that someone called your bluff, but you can get your head back in the game if you realize you still have a great chance to win this game! It can also help you through times when the cards are just not coming. Feel like you’ve been folding all day?

If you’re still close to average, relax, you’ll be fine, chill out and wait for a good hand, it’ll come eventually. But probably the most important is when you’re short. You’ve made some mistakes or someone else has gotten lucky and you’re falling behind. Knowing what the average chip stack is will tell you how hard you need to slam the gas pedal while trying to catch up. If you’re way behind, you’ll know it’s worth risking your tournament life to double up in the next few hands.

At some sites, there’s an option to click on to see what the average chip stack is. Sometimes in live games (especially home games) you won’t have that help, and this site doesn’t currently tell you (at least I haven’t found that option). So do you know how to figure it for yourself? Easy:

• If you’re online, pull up the lobby window for the tourney, it will have a couple numbers you’re going to need.
• Take the number of chips at the beginning of the tourney. (example 1000)
• Take the total number of people that started the tournament. (example 200)
• Multiply those two numbers, that’s the total number of chips in the game. (example 1000X 200=200,000)
• Divide the result by the number of people still in the tournament. (example 56 players left – so 200,000/56=3571)

So then you have a benchmark of where you stand relative to everyone else left in the game. If you were sitting somewhere from 3k to 5k in the example above, you’re doing just fine, keep playing at about the same speed, you’re in great shape to make a deep run.

“But,” you say, I’m WAY too lazy to do that! I’m concentrating on the game, I don’t want to pull out a calculator and do all that!”

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a quick ‘n dirty way to “math it out” without frying your brain? Well there is, sort of. There are certain points at the tourney where even someone with a math-phobia can figure out the average in about 2.18 seconds.

At halfway through the tourney (half the players who started are gone), the average chip stack will be double what you started with. So in the above example, average will be 2000 chips once you’re down to 100 players. That’s easy right? Well here is the list of spots that I find easy to remember. If you happen to be really good with numbers and bored, well, you could use the same principle to get silly with it and figure out more spots.

• ¾ players, average = 1.5X starting chips
• ½ players, average = 2X starting chips
• ¼ players, average = 4X starting chips
• 1/10 players, average = 10X starting chips

So will this concept make you better at poker? NO! But this WILL give you a measuring stick which can be very helpful in gauging your situation. The more you know about where you stand (or sit) at the table, the better decisions you’ll be able to make and that will make you a better poker player...(as long as you have some aptitude anyways), and over time, the more $ you’ll be able to win.

Ideal practice venue? Why NoPayPOKER.com of course Free Online Poker with no risk of real money loss plus the ability to win it, barking mad.