closest game to poker, skill v. luck

[ChuckyB]

Is Stratego playable online?

yahtzee, spades

ok maybe not yahtzee

[4ever]

[ QUOTE ]
Jesus Tapdancing Christ

[/ QUOTE ]

I wish I could understand why that was so funny to me.

Anyway, My vote for the game that has similar variances to poker would be the traditional ass-kicking contest. Specifically those which involve two men, each of whom only have one leg.

this is gonna sound like a really obscure answer, but i'm gonna go with bullriding. the reason being is that Poker is one of the only games where there is something involved that is completly out of the control of all the competitors. the cards dealt in poker is like the bull. even the best rider could get thrown early, and even a rodeo-donk could stay on for 8 seconds if the bull were to slow down a bit.

[ QUOTE ]
There are also different versions of bridge. Cut-around money rubber (or Chicago) bridge is probably closest to poker in terms of luck/skill ratio, but I still think that there is quite a bit more luck in poker. In long knockout bridge matches, relatively weaker teams are going to finish well much less frequently than relatively weaker players are going to finish well in poker tournaments. My gut tells me that backgammon would be a better answer. However, this may well be because I'm a much better bridge player than backgammon player.

[/ QUOTE ]A short matchpoint event might be very close. I'm not a bridge expert, but I've got a few regional wins. And, in national championships, I have finished ahead of players who are much better than I am. Even in short team matches, I have come out ahead of world champions.

I'm not sure what comparable event in tournament poker there would be for a national knock out team championship in bridge, however. The WPT and World Series of Poker events are not the same, otherwise you'd have final tables made up of all known players.

[ZenMusician]

Anytime you are near Boston, PM me.

Bring aspirin and a box of Kleenex, your ego may hurt awhile...

-ZEN

[ QUOTE ]
Anytime you are near Boston, PM me.

Bring aspirin and a box of Kleenex, your ego may hurt awhile...

-ZEN

[/ QUOTE ]

Never been, but if I'm on the east coast, you are mine! Don't worry, I always bring pain meds and kleenex for my opponents. And then we celebrate my victory with some form of alcohol.

[bb88]

Risk would fit the bill pretty well.

I used to play in bridge tournaments and I can say the game most like poker is definitely not Bridge. Most bridge tournaments are played in a style called "duplicate bridge" where everyone plays the exact same hands. Essentially every event has 2 winners - if there were 20 teams in the tournament you have 2 sets of 10 teams that played the exact same hands (rotating to play against the other set of 10 teams). Then each of the 10 teams is ranked in order of how many points they scored for that hand (10 points for the most points on the hand down to 1 point for the least). Then those rankings are tallied and you have your winner. So there is absolutely no luck with what cards you get.

Also, there is no deception in bridge. You have to let your oppontents see a summary of what your bidding system is. If your bidding system has an unusual aspect you have to alert your opponents when it happens. If my opponents are unsure of what my bid means they are allowed to ask my partner what that bid meant. If I'm not consistent following my bidding system our opponents can call the judge and we can get penalized.

So at least in tournament play Bridge isn't really anything like poker.

[ QUOTE ]
Risk would fit the bill pretty well.

[/ QUOTE ]

I offer the same challenge.