That is silly. There are plenty of good sports bettors.

10 star lock free on recorded message.

How often does the best hand not win? I presume you're talking about someone bluffing and getting a good hand to fold, which seems like it would be exceedingly rare. If I have a good hand, I'm playing it to the end.

Note that I don't play poker, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

This is incorrect.

Gamblers and Casino's get exactly what they deserve.

I thought you just disappeared when you did crap like this in Vegas.

Cattle prod time.

That is essentially what I am talking about. But the best hand not winning no doubt occurs more often than you might think, especially among amateur players.

For instance if the board reads Ace, 8, 3, K, J and you are holding a King/Queen, how comfortable are you that you are going to win? Especially if the other player has been betting hard and representing an Ace even though they just have a pair of 8s. Or if the flush possibility is also out there, you are even more uncomfortable. Obviously the decision to call or fold to a final bet in front of you depends on the amount of the bet, how much you have already committed to the pot, and how the action played out, but you can never be too sure. In this case, you will probably be playing your pair of kings to the end. But imagine you only have a pair of Jacks. Now you are really uneasy about your hand even though you have had the other player dominated since the turn card. The intricacies that go into the game are a large part of what makes it enjoyable.

He didn't get caught in Vegas.

I'm with you... I've been to many a gambling facility to include Monaco (just to sya I was there!!), and I don't get it. I see the allure of the high-stakes places like Monaco and the places where the truly wealthy and skilled ply, but when I go to "the boats" it's just kind of sad. From the elderly folks dragging o2 bottles from slot machine to slot machine, to the others who are sitting at tables and just don't look like they're having fun (by the looks on their faces). And it's not a poker face deal, it's just the look like they're there because it's a little better than being at home watching infomercials.

So I could be wrong, but more than 20 minutes at a blackjack table and I'm kind of bored.

But alas, if that's what they want to do, have fun, I'll go to the comedy shows or watch some little oriental folks fly through the air. After all, I love NASCAR and most folks find that to me tantamount to watching cars on the highway. So obviously I'm just missing something when it comes to cards and board ("bored" as I say) games..

That's not really correct. Just take the game of Texas Hold'em for example. A skilled player can greatly improve his odds of winning, a skilled player can win some hands by bluffing, and a skilled player can minimize his losses by correctly reading the other players and folding when he should fold. However, Texas Hold'Em is a game that combines skill and luck.

Phil Helmuth has won more World Series of Poker bracelets than anyone else, yet he often finishes out of the money. I suppose you can argue that he simply plays better in some tournaments than others. After all, Tiger Woods misses the cut on the PGA tour sometimes, and nobody says that golf is gambling.

However, you can also make a pretty convincing argument that a run of bad cards knocks Phil Hellmuth out of tournaments on a regular basis, even when he plays his hands perfectly. That's just part of the game, and that's the gambling aspect of it. There's a degree of luck involved because the player has absolutely no control over the cards that are dealt. A player can make a horrible bet or a horrible call, and then get lucky because against all odds, he got the exact card he needed. That's luck. That doesn't happen in sports where the winners and losers are determined strictly by who plays the best.

If you don't have the requisite skill you can't depend on good luck to carry you in poker. You can be the best player in the world and lose to a lesser player, not because he outplayed you, but because the cards fell in his favor.

To say that there is no such thing as a good gambler is just silly. Ask the best poker players in the world whether or not they are gamblers and whether or not an element of luck is involved. They will tell you that they are, and that there is. They'll also tell you that an element of skill is involved, and they are the best at it.

And yes, I've seen Rounders many times. I've seen Matt Damon make the claim that poker is a game of skill and that luck has no bearing on it. I've seen him talk about the World Series of Poker, make the claim that the same guys are at the final table every year, and ask "are they the luckiest guys in the world?".

The problem with that argument is that the same guys DON'T make it to the final table every year. It's rare for anyone to make it to the final table two years in a row.

only if you finish........

The skill is not just knowing your odds and the chances of improving your hand, but winning despite not having the best hand.

It's not illegal--card counting, that is. But the casino can basically tell you to leave for any reason. And if you are winning too much money from them, they can tell you to leave.