What is poker?

Well to be honest I think it's somewhere in the middle, while it does require a great deal of skill and you can get better at it if you practice, read books etc and obviously you can't get better at it if you it's all luck so that makes it a sport? Not quite. Poker probably requires a greater amount of luck than any other sport and you can't win with a set of crap cards even if you had all the skill in the world. I do believe that Poker should be branded in a category all by itself rather than try and club it as either a sport or as gambling.

Here is what Matt Damon said about Poker in the movie Rounders: “Why does this still seem like gambling to you? I mean, why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker EVERY SINGLE YEAR? What are they the luckiest guys in Las Vegas? It's a skill game, Jo” Think about it, if Poker was all luck there would be no Professional Poker players, would you take to something on a professional basis if it was all luck?

I also believe that Poker pretty much has the same skill and luck needed as you would if you were trading in stocks, when you trade in stocks you will see that for the most part you will do well if you do your homework, keep updating yourself on the happenings and pretty much on the ball then you will make money. What does it take to be a good stock trader? You need to be methodical and on top of your money.

You also need to plan how much you can afford to lose, and what will be your cut offs etc. You also need to have the right mix of caution and aggression to be good at it. Lo and behold you just got the perfect poker player! The importance of being studious is highlighted by the fact that generally lawyers make excellent poker players.

Mark Seif this year's World Series of Poker was earlier a District Attorney at a law firm, he is not the first lawyer to become a Professional Poker Player and he certainly will not be the last. Here's hoping the Department of Justice will show a little bit more maturity and become a moderator/regulator of Online Poker rather than try and close it down at the first opportunity.