But do you agree that poker consists of making difficult decisions? In any case, I think everyone chooses his own poker philosophy. My philosophy is that poker is not a game of luck, but skill.
Yes, I do agree that to play poker successfully you need a healthy percent of skill. The confusion for some, comes from the
fact that if you strip either skill or luck from poker, you'll never be successful. Both play a huge role in poker, sometimes simultaneously (good plays on nuts for example) or alternately (skill wins you pots with bluffs, you play position well, you steal blinds etc and luck gives you nuts, outs when they are unlikely, keeps you in a tourney when you have no chance of playing the next blind, etc.)
Regardless of the percentage of SKILL versus LUCK, a good player must have BOTH.
To take my idea further, I think the following, with conviction:
1. Those who say poker is a lottery or a luck game, came into poker to win money thinking that it's
slots and when they inevitably lose, they blame it on luck like this: "Poker is a game of luck and I am an unlucky person"
2. Those who say poker is only a skill game are a bunch of smug a-holes, who like to attribute everything to themselves to look smarter, better for others or are constantly losing in poker, they know they need skills which they don't possess, and they usually don't admit they're always on the losing side.