It is a debate topic that can sometimes become edgy, with professional poker players and those who take the game seriously standing firmly on the side of skill when it comes to the question of which is more important for success in poker, and many others claming that it has more to do with luck than anything else. It is not an either kind of debate, however, because a professional poker player will tell you faster than anyone else that luck plays a hand in the game of poker, and only the completely uninformed would believe that luck completely overrules skill. So, if even the pros count of luck from time to time, why bother learning any poker skills at all, beyond the basic rules of the game? Why not learn hand rankings and when to bet and then start firing chips at the pot, rub your lucky rabbits foot, cross your fingers, and hope for the jackpot? Well, some people do, and what happens to them is probably the greatest argument for the "pro skill" side: they go broke.

Luck always did, and always will, play a factor in any game that has an element of the random, such as poker. Some forms of poker, such as Texas Hold'em, play a little heavier in the skill department than others, but if these games could not be won with skill, what do you say to the MIT Blackjack Team, who has been banned from casino because they used math to figure out how to give themselves an edge over the house?

The debate could be summed up in the words of the legendary Doyle Brunson himself, who, when asked if professional poker players had an edge in reaching the final table of a big event at the World Poker Tour, said "It's like playing the lottery. We have more lottery tickets than anyone else; but you still have to hit the lottery."