Being A Smart Poker Players May Just Empty Your Pockets

A study from academics in England and the Netherlands showing that poker is a skill-oriented game may cause UK government to tax poker players' winnings.

The UK Government could begin taxing poker winnings after a new online gaming research suggested that poker does indeed require a certain level of skill in order to win. The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Nottingham who partnered up with the Erasmus University Rotterdam and the VU University Amsterdam.

The study was based on a database whereby 456 million online games players were observed over a one year period. The study revealed that players who scored the highest in the first six months would probably maintain their top 10% level in the following six months. The research teams carried out thousands of simulations, based in land-based and online poker sites in UK, whereby the cream-of-the-crop players rivaled against the worst, then their winnings were compared.

Findings mean poker players could run out of luck

The result showed that although very adept online bettors fared only a little bit better over the course of just a few hands, it seemed they were better off more than 75% of the time of when the total of hands had reached 1,471. Dr Dennie van Dolder of the University of Nottingham's School of Economics concluded that “skilled players will consistently outperform less skilled players if enough hands... are played”.

It follows then that poker requires more skill and perhaps less luck. This of course could cause poker winnings to be taxed under UK gambling laws as “It’s up to legislators to decide whether the role of chance diminishes fast enough for poker to be considered a game of skill,” Van Dolder said. This could bring satisfaction for real skilled poker players but on the other hand policymakers may want to tax poker earnings, and may just wipe the smile off millions of happy poker players out there.