Poker Anorak / Dave Allan / 05 December 2008 / 2 Comments

In an effort to answer the age-old question of whether poker is a game of skill or luck, Betfair Poker have been crunching through the stats on their site, and the results are intriguing. Below are some of the more interesting things they discovered whilst ploughing through the data from Betfair Poker during 2008*

Skill vs. Luck

Theoretically (according to David Sklansky) if you have two evenly matched players in a heads up game over a period of time they will win the same amount of games (This is true for any sport) However, if one of them was told to purposely lose he would be able to do so very quickly. In football the goalie could let in every shot and in poker they could check fold every flop. If you asked someone to do this in a casino house game it would be impossible because there are no decisions to be made so these games have to be considered 100% luck.
As with any sport the closer the skill levels of players the more luck comes into the equation and has an impact.

Most Profitable Hand AA

Thrown away 0.41%

We all know Aces are the best hand in poker but now we also know that it is the most profitable! We presume that the people who folded the Aces were sitting out at the time!
A total of $49,692,225 has been won with this hand this year on the site.

Least Profitable Hand 82o

Thrown away 73.41%

A total of $3,944,000 has been lost playing this hand on Betfair Poker. 72o is officially the worst hand in poker but gets played a lot for novelty purposes.

Percentage most profitable 90%

Percentage least profitable 5.04%

Aces will win your hand on average 90% of the time on Betfair Poker whilst 72o will only win a hand in just over 5% when played .

Biggest Hand on Betfair Poker (played out by two poker professionals)

Watch the biggest hand here

NLH Table Blinds $250/500
Dealer has Qd 2h (sitting with $170,752)
Small Blind had As Kd (sitting with $183,193.50)
Pre-Flop
Dealer raises to $1,500
SB Re-raises to $5,700
Dealer re-raises to $17,100
SB Calls $17,100
Flop = Kc 3c 3d
Post-Flop betting
SB checks
Dealer bets $22,222 (into $56,422 pot)
SB raises to $72,000
Dealer re-raises to $153,900 all in
SB calls $153,900
Turn = 4c
River = 6d
SB wins $ 342,004

Showdown Stats:-
29% of all hands end in a showdown. Below is a breakdown of the hands that take the pot at showdown
High Card 3.57%
One Pair 31.1%
Two Pair 31.52%
Three of a Kind 9.24%
Straight 9.12%
Flush 7.66%
Full House 7.05%
Four of a Kind 0.63%
Straight Flush 0.09%
Royal Flush 0.02%

*Data sourced from Betfair Poker January 1st - November 1st 2008