Is Poker about SKILL or LUCK (tournaments)

Recently I saw a poker media company claiming to be an educational resource interview a bunch of people asking this question. Are poker tournaments about skill or luck? To my disappointment everyone answered LUCK. Yes indeed you have win your flips, key pots have to hold, and sometimes the occasional suck out will help you go deeper, but if you're like the people in the video that think that luck is more important, then maybe you're not doing the following things.

1. Playing the right ranges

Without someone telling you it's wrong, you might think you're playing the right ranges all along. "When Ï was short, I was waiting for a good hand and folded shit like A8s, KQo so when I finally got AA I had only 3bb left so I shove and bb called with me J9 and won. Hash tag run bad." Take 10 minutes to read some charts and you might be surprised what you should and shouldn't be playing. 

2. Defend your big blind well

You can play snug and choose your battles, but once every orbit you have to defend your big blind. Understanding which boards favor which player, which lines, defending what range vs the perceived range of the opener, these things will highly increase your odds of going deep. 

3. Bluff more

One of the most common complaints I hear in an MTT is "I don't have any good hands", "card dead"... Well if you are waiting for premium hands, hoping to be on the right side of coolers, then yes you will be sorely disappointed most of the time. Since most of the time stacks are relatively shorter than say a cash game, we are "scared" to bluff as a bad bluff might cost us. But we forget that "fear" or the same concerns are with your opponents too, as a bad call will cost them just the same. Fold equity is much higher in MTTs compared to a cash game. If you're not 3 bet bluffing, 4 bet bluffing, over bet bluffing, then you are not doing enough. 

4. Ready to catch bluffs

You will be put in many tough spots in the course of a tournament. If you a able to read ranges well, sense the type of player you're playing against, have a proper bankroll to make decisions more comfortably, then you're prepared to call off sometimes your tournament life with marginal hands. The biggest mistake I've seen players do is bluff catch on the turn but change their minds on the river. I am not saying once you call the turn bet you have to call the river bet as well, but if nothing major changes, what made your mind change? If you're not prepared to call off then why call on the turn too? 

For me to win this back then I definitely had some luck

5. Hero fold 

I know this sounds contradictory to the point above but it's spots like ability to fold jacks to a small blind cold 4 bet, 3 bet folding AK deep stacks to utg opener, folding AA on a 789 cold 3 bet multiway, folding QT on a QJTxx preflop aggressor triple barrel, etc. Poker is about relativity. In some spots you can call with king high but fold 3rd nuts in another. Knowing the difference is key. 

6. Thin value

If you are avoiding thin value because you fear getting raised off your hand, or you're thinking villain can't call you anyways, you might be missing out on precious blinds that might be the difference between surviving your future hands or player out. A few blinds here and there will compound in future pots, giving you more room to maneuver later stages, able to take a cooler or bad beat and still have chips to continue.  

7. Paying enough attention

I can grind cash games for 12-15 hours straight and not feel tired, but I am exhausted after a day of tournament poker because there is so much attention and focus needed. Paying attention to things like player conversations (for example, someone saying that this is their last bullet) or the clock (stone bubble, MP has 6bbs now but if you time it right, he will have only 3bb left when he's on the big blind) or if someone is tilting, tired, scared, over confident, under bluffing, over bluffing.... You are not playing your hand, you are playing against the players on your table. 

There are many more things but these are just the top few. If you really think poker is about luck then you're better off playing blackjack or baccarat. If you're already doing the above and still losing then you have earned the right to blame it on luck. Come play online on Natural8 with me or join our Malaysia Poker Federation discord here.