Poker Is Poker a game of skill or game of chance or both?

Winner of 13 bracelets of World Series of Poker, Phillip Jerome Hellmuth, Jr. once commented on this question,"“If it weren’t for luck, I’d win every time".
Fortunately, this forum of ours has so many authors, players and experts of this game. I am not much into this game and only aware of its basics and never played Poker for money so I have least experience of this game. In my humble opinion based upon the trivial knowledge and experience that I acquired while trying my hands on this game, it is a mixture of both skill and luck and it also requires to have patience like a rock. Even the most skilled player can lose in any game. I hereby invite all to have a nice debate upon this with as much logic, facts and figures as possible.
Ladies and Gentlemen, your turn.

 

Gary Player and Lee Trevino said it best: "The more I practice, the luckier I get!"

Poker takes knowledge, skill, discipline and patience! It never hurts to be lucky as well, but you can't rely on luck, you must rely on the four core concepts of playing the game of poker.

Now, having said that, I don't believe there is a player out there that can say they have played a lengthy tournament without having some sort of luck occur. It may be that they bluffed and no one called, it might be they got all-in with kings and someone woke up with aces, but a king spiked on the river, or it just might be they "seem" to get hit with the deck (meaning great cards throughout the event and at the right time).

Luck can also come in the form of being at the right table, with a mix of players that make the table a perfect place for you to acquire chips. There might be weak players, or maybe ultra loose players that will gladly release their chips holding inferior hands, however, you might have BAD LUCK also, having sat a table with very skilled opponents, making it more difficult for you to use your entire arsenal of weapons.

I like to think a client that I would work with would not reply on LUCK, but would sharpen their skills in the 4 core concepts. Patience and discipline alone will take them far, but reading and learning (knowledge), and practicing their craft (skill), will make them champions or profitable (cash side of things).

 

Exactly Mr. Spath. All you can do is take the information that you have and make your decision on what to do with your hand. Even if you always call with the best hand, there are always the odds of the draw beating you. I think Hellmuth refers to that.

I have a saying & please if anyone knows if I heard it somewhere from someone & am just repeating it. Because I "think" I made it up, but it can be something I heard somewhere and am repeating it…

"You can always beat the player but you can't always beat the draw."

 

In my opinion its only a mix of both skill and luck in that in the short term, its more about luck and in the long term its all about skill. Other than that, Al pretty much said it all