The dominance of skill in online poker

Does skill dominate luck in online poker? In many countries around the world, legality of poker industry rests on courts’ evaluation “skill dominance” criterion. Because it is not precisely defined, however, dominance criterion may be misleading when comes to legal qualification gambling activities. We argue that this concept might better framed as “do skilled players game” than “does game outcomes”. introduce a novel, comprehensive dataset play – where we follow 91,439 over 40 consecutive months (representing 85 million hands played) and develop simple tests show (i) drives individual results, (ii) improve their skills with experience quit playing function starting ability. A lower bound estimate suggests takes at least 7 full-time training for novice acquire basic exhibited by most experienced our data. conclude scholarly debate move beyond its focus instead issues regulation. Beyond case poker, procedures tools can readily transferred evaluate other purported games skill, such sports betting or stock trading.