If Poker is a Game of Skill, What is Blackjack? Or Craps?

by Bodog Casino | Apr 17 2009

Back in the day any form of gambling was seen as a game of luck. You walk into a casino, you throw down some money, and then pray the gaming gods will double it.

It took expert poker players like Doyle Brunson and even popular actors like Matt Damon (seriously) to truly change the image of gambling. Brunson and his book, Super System, proved to people that a card game like poker could rival chess in terms of skill and strategy. Damon's late 90s film, Rounders, did the same; and helped push the game into mainstream media.

Now you can find poker getting airtime on sports channels like ESPN or Fox Sports. But what about the other casino games like Blackjack, Craps, or Caribbean Stud Poker? How should they be perceived?

We compare some of these games to poker below.

Blackjack vs. Poker
Whereas poker is a combination of skill and strategy, Blackjack, in our opinion, falls exclusively in the strategic category.

Poker is a game that can be won by bluffing or mind games. With Blackjack, it's all about getting the right cards and playing them right. Blackjack players that stick to strategy and don't try to predict what the dealer has are generally the ones that come out on top.

Craps/Roulette vs. Poker
Unlike poker, we feel games like Craps or Roulette are more of a game of luck. We would put Craps in the skill category if someone could consistently show us how to roll sevens with the dice; but that has yet to happen.

It's nearly impossible to predict the outcome of a random event like what number will land on a Roulette wheel or the way the dice will fall in Craps. This makes it, in some ways, as random as a slot machine. Plus, in Roulette and Craps you're not facing an opponent. It's just you versus the laws of probability.

Video Poker/Caribbean Stud/Caribbean Holdem vs. Poker
The casino has many variations of poker, so it should matchup Texas Holdem in terms of skill right? Not exactly. Although Video Poker, Caribbean Stud and Caribbean Holdem all have various elements of poker, they're all lacking one crucial piece of the pie: the human element.

You can't bluff the dealer in any of these casino versions of poker, and the dealer can't bluff you. This makes the game purely strategic. A raise is 100-percent dependent on the cards you get, while in Texas Holdem it's more dependant on your opponent's body language and reactions to your play.

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