IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eko/ekoeko/40_33.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poker - a game of luck or skills. Review of theoretical and empirical studies and conclusions for law regulations

Author

Listed:
  • Mikołaj Czajkowski

Abstract

Whether poker is a game of luck or skills remains open to debate, both in Poland and abroad. The answer to this question determines if poker is classified as gambling and potentially penalized. This paper provides the merits to answer this question based on the review of theoretical, simulation-based, experimental and empirical studies devoted to the game of poker, and in particular – Poker Texas Hold’em. The results univocally show that although there is a component of chance in poker, it is the skills that matter in the long run (to the similar extent as in sports). Quantifying chance in poker is also discussed – the minimum amount of time required for skills to statistically outweigh chance. In conclusions, I propose a more pragmatic approach to regulation – based not on classifying poker as a game of luck or a game of skill, but rather taking the cost and benefit analysis into account, which includes externalities and consumers’ welfare change associated with either of the solutions – legalizing or delegalizing poker.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikołaj Czajkowski, 2015. "Poker - a game of luck or skills. Review of theoretical and empirical studies and conclusions for law regulations," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 40.
  • Handle: RePEc:eko:ekoeko:40_33
    DOI: 10.17451/eko/40/2015/80
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ekonomia.wne.uw.edu.pl/ekonomia/getFile/754
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17451/eko/40/2015/80?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marcel Dreef & Peter Borm & Ben van der Genugten, 2004. "A new relative skill measure for games with chance elements," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(5), pages 255-264.
    2. Steven D. Levitt & Thomas J. Miles, 2014. "The Role of Skill Versus Luck in Poker Evidence From the World Series of Poker," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(1), pages 31-44, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Duersch, Peter & Lambrecht, Marco & Oechssler, Joerg, 2020. "Measuring skill and chance in games," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Ben van der Genugten & Peter Borm, 2016. "Texas Hold’em: A Game of Skill," International Game Theory Review (IGTR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(03), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Rogier J D Potter van Loon & Martijn J van den Assem & Dennie van Dolder, 2015. "Beyond Chance? The Persistence of Performance in Online Poker," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-23, March.
    4. Eil, David & Lien, Jaimie W., 2014. "Staying ahead and getting even: Risk attitudes of experienced poker players," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 50-69.
    5. Hendrickx, R.L.P. & Borm, P.E.M. & van der Genugten, B.B. & Hilbers, P., 2008. "Measuring Skill in More-Person Games with Applications to Poker," Other publications TiSEM 2f1019be-50f8-4155-9592-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Marcel Dreef & Peter Borm, 2006. "On the role of chance moves and information in two-person games," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 14(1), pages 75-98, June.
    7. Vito Fragnelli & Maria Erminia Marina, 2011. "Skill and Chance in Insurance Policies," Czech Economic Review, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, vol. 5(2), pages 191-202, August.
    8. Marcel Dreef & Peter Borm & Ben van der Genugten, 2004. "Measuring skill in games: several approaches discussed," Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research (GOR);Nederlands Genootschap voor Besliskunde (NGB), vol. 59(3), pages 375-391, July.
    9. Agam Gupta & Yash Khandelwal & Manish K. Singh & Ashutosh Singla, 2022. "Do fantasy sports players' actions influence their performance in Dream11 contests? Adding data to the debate on skill vs chance," Working Papers 17, xKDR.
    10. Sumit Sarkar & Sooraj Kamath, 2023. "Does luck play a role in the determination of the rank positions in football leagues? A study of Europe’s ‘big five’," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 325(1), pages 245-260, June.
    11. McFall, Todd & Rotthoff, Kurt W., 2020. "Risk-taking dynamics in tournaments: Evidence from professional golf," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 378-394.
    12. Hergueux, Jerome & Smagghue, Gabriel, 2023. "The dominance of skill in online poker," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Brian M. Mills & Dae Hee Kwak & Joon Sung Lee & Woo-Young Lee, 2014. "Competitive environments in fantasy sports gaming: effects of entry fees and rewards on opposition quality and league sorting," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 161-180, August.
    14. Madonia, Greg & Smith, Austin C., 2019. "All-In or checked-out? Disincentives and selection in income share agreements," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 52-67.
    15. Jussi Palomäki & Michael Laakasuo & Mikko Salmela, 2013. "'This is just so unfair!': A qualitative analysis of loss-induced emotions and tilting in on-line poker," International Gambling Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 255-270, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eko:ekoeko:40_33. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fesuwpl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.