The International Federation of Poker, a huge and ambitious project to link the poker-playing nations of the world together, establish a set of international rules and fight for poker as a "skill game", held a glittering pair of launch events in London last week: a Nations Cup duplicate tournament aboard the Millennium Wheel (or "London Eye", as it's less beautifully known) and an invitational world championship at County Hall.
The County Hall tournament featured nearly every big poker name there is, alongside top card-playing celebrities like Steve Davis and Shane Warne. It ran as if on wheels, amazingly glitch-free for a first time event. Plus, I finished second for a very decent wedge, which just goes to prove it's all skill.
The truth is, of course, it's about the mixture. Heads-up for the title with Raul Mestre of Spain, blinds at 10k-20k, I found AJ in the big blind. Mestre, an aggressive player, raised to 44k as usual. I re-raised to 120k. He shoved all in (with a pair of fives) and I called.
This is a simple poker scenario, but it calls for maths and psychology. Mestre knows to raise frequently from the button. I know to re-raise an aggressive player a certain percentage of the time. He knows I know that, so must shove when he has a pair. I know I must call, when I've put in 120k of 650k and my opponent's range includes smaller aces, KQ and KJ. That's all "skill".
But with five cards to come, the hands are nearly 50/50 against each other: Mestre won the pot, and that's luck.
We'll return to the interesting idea of duplicate next week.
But even this simple hand shows that poker is a unique mix of ability, calculation and chance: unlike chess, yet absolutely unlike roulette. More like life.
