Top players demonstrate poker is a game of skill

A study published earlier this year took millions of hands of statistical data, from PokerStars, and verified what poker players have known all along: Poker is a game of skill. A far less scientific, but no less poignant, display has been put on at the 2009 WSOP; where the top players in the world have been not only winning events, but winning multiple events!

Headlining this class of multiple bracelet winners is the new King of Stud, Jeff Lisandro. Lisandro has won a bracelet in each variant of Stud Poker at the WSOP: 7-Card-Stud, 7-Card-Stud-Hi/Lo, and Razz. This remarkable feat isn’t simply an anomaly either: Take the case of Thang Luu, who in 2007 finished 2^nd in the $2,500 Omaha 8 tournament; in 2008 Luu won the $1,500 Omaha 8 tournament; and defended his title in 2009!

With tournament fields reaching well into triple figures, and sometimes into the thousands, it would be impossible for a single player to have this type of success unless they were playing with a significant edge over the rest of the field.

And the evidence doesn’t end with these two players.

• Phil Ivey won his 6^th and 7^th bracelets
• John Brock Parker won the 6-Max Limit & 6-Max No Limit events
• Roland De Wolfe completed the triple crown with his WSOP win: De Wolfe has now won a WSOP event, WPT event, and EPT event; only the second player to do so
• Former hockey player turned poker pro, Greg “fbt” Mueller, won the $10k Limit Hold’ Em event and the Limit Hold’ Em shootout
• Daniel Negreanu and Barry Greenstein have both cashed in seven events

And all this has taken place before the Main Event -poker’s most prestigious tournament-has gotten underway! If a pro happens to capture the Main Event title, or multiple top players can make deep runs in the tournament, the year of the pro player will be solidified.

No matter what happens in the Main Event, the 2009 WSOP will definitely go down as the year of the professional poker player. So, while you may hear the poker war-cry, “On any given day, anyone can win.” Just remember, this is how the top players get amateurs to play against them; by showing them the times the amateur comes out on top with one hand, while they hide their WSOP bracelet laden arm behind their back!

Anyone who is up in the air, or doubts, the skill involved in poker need look no further than the 2009 WSOP for some irrefutable evidence that poker is indeed a skill game. Every player is aware of the short-term ‘luck’ inherent in poker, but now the masses are learning what true players have known for years: Even the courts and government have stopped drinking the Kool-Aid, and are passing down legal decisions, and creating legislation in favor of poker.