This weekend, I played a game of poker (Texas hold‘em). It was my first time playing with an actual monetary buy-in ($20). Very early on in the game, I went all in on a hand I thought was really good (a flush) and I lost to a full house that was basically face-up because there were two pairs in the middle. Since I had assumed a flush was way better than a full house, my friends graciously suggested we restart the game so I could keep playing. Despite this kindness surely being a complete rarity in the world of poker (where beginners are constantly taken advantage of), I think it demonstrates how different poker is from other games of chance. When you ignore reading other players, putting on poker faces, etc., the actual mechanics of poker are entirely random. But they are also quite complicated, and it takes a large amount of skill to assess the specific probabilities of each of the 52 cards resulting in a good hand. I find poker to be incredibly boring, because in these 6 player games the only time you actually want to be playing is when you think you might have the best hand, and you theoretically only have the best hand 1/6 of the time. Therefore after I got the hang of it I found myself playing low risk hands, and folding everything else. I also love bluffing and bluffing games, which my friends know, and they are a lot better at calling me out on it in poker for some reason.
I can see how this game would be highly addictive for some people. Playing at a relatively small buy in can still bring you a huge amount of money, and after just one time getting lucky you would have a taste of that. And due to the different aspects of the game that mimic skill, you might feel like you are especially good at poker.
