Is poker the only game in the world where making a mistake could be rewarded?

I was just doing some brainstorming about poker and realized that it is the only game I know of that if you make a mistake, you could be rewarded and win nonetheless.

For example, say you're playing 1-2 NL hold'em. There was a pre-flop raise of $10, two people left. You are in position, and your hole cards are Ad, K,s. The flop comes KcKh3c. Your opponent checks to you. You bet $10, your opponent calls. Turn comes 7h. Your opponent checks, you come out blasting and bet $50 - (to get him off a possible flush draw).Your opponent calls.River comes 10c. Your opponent bets the last $30 he has in front of him, of course you have to call - he turns over Ac9c for the nut flush.

Now, although you bet enough money on the turn that it would have been a mistake for him to call with just a flush draw on the river, he did so anyway - technically he made a huge mistake but got paid off anyway.

Almost every game has a luck component. Take the NFL for example, in OT games they flip a coin to decide who gets the ball. I've also seen QB's make bad mistakes, throw an errant pass that gets deflected which ends up winning the game. The immaculate reception is a famous example of a lucky bounce. Pretty much every long pass by Favre is another.

Poker is a game of skill with a component of luck. In the long run, if you make less mistakes than your opponents *using sklanskys definition of a mistake* you will come out ahead. People just don't fully realize how long the long run really is.

Don't forget the weekly bad calls by the ref.

Blackjack is another game where stupid plays can get paid. How many times have you had a 19, dealer has a 6 and the idiot with a 13 hits and takes an 8? He wins with the dealer's bust card and everyone else loses after the dealer turns over 10 and 4.

Many games will sometimes reward a poor move...that is the LUCK element, I guess. Even LIFE itself will sometimes reward a person for bad behavior or making mistakes. How about the guy who stayed out to late the night before, overslept, and missed getting to work on time only to discover that it was 9/11/2001 and he worked in the North Tower? Luck seems to affect everything.

i agree with the previous speakers, but poker has one important element in comparison to other gamble games: the bluff. so if you are good at bluffing you can win a lot, which is actually none but luck even if you're the best bluffer..

Most games have an element of luck, which means at times making the wrong decision will turn things in your favour.
In snooker or pool you can just smash the balls around and if you're lucky something goes in.

No its not. Bluffing is a skill, which requires good judgement and reads of whether your opponent is weak or strong, and the ability to keep a pokerface in the casino.

I think any and every game can reward mistakes, even chess, just not very often. How about the pitcher who throws a nice fat fastball right down the middle on a 0-2 count, and the batter pops it up? But in poker it happens a lot, which is what your point is, I think. I agree, mistakes get rewarded a lot in poker. And good solid play gets penalized!

Poker when played enough, obviously takes way more skill than luck.

Everything in life and I mean EVERYTHING has an amount of luck, an idiot can wake up one day and think up some random idea (like how subway was started) .. then become a freggin millionair off of it.

If you ask me, a lot of successful bizs involved a lot more start-up luck than poker.

I don't believe luck "happens a lot" in poker, that only seems to be true sense poker is in constant non-stop motions, where as things like baseball only happen every so often, don't last that long, ect.

It only seems this way because in poker, the underdog hand is rarely much of an underdog. In the opening example, his flush draw was going to hit (without giving you a boat) and win nearly 1/3 of the time.

You won't last very long just donking around on a billiards table though.



Just got my new cue for my birthday Monday. McDermott Genesis EXP with a Tiger X 13mm shaft. Soooooooooo awesome. Haven't lost a cash race with it yet. (Ok, I've only played 2 games for money so far, but still)

making mistakes in poker rewards you over time???? i think not

why are you betting 10 on the flop with 2 clubs out there you let him get there. you 50 on turn looks even more like a bluff to bad players so he probably thought if an ace hit he was good plus his club draw i would of called the 50 too but i would of put u on the 3 kings not a bluff and woulda just seen if the river club came if not i woulda folded 70 bucks only 35 bb not aq big swing to a well managed BR

This one time on my math quiz I guessed at all the answers.. but I got around 1 out of 10 right! :O