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Cosimo
across (probably) hundreds of hands in a single game and multiplied by the number of matches a serious player goes into, the skill of the players emerges -- I mean, this is evidenced by the somewhat consistent existence of tiers of skill at all.
Skill means that you have better EV against noobs, but better EV is not equal to a certain win. Thing is that you can't play unlimited number of hands, especially in live tournaments. And on a short distance luck >> skill. Basically there are many skilled players but to get to the final WSOP table you need a lot of luck and this probably may happen once in your life (nowadays when you have 5000-10000 players there) regardless of your skill.
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Cosimo
Sure, but that's because the importance of the money actually conditions the game.
No, they are the reason why people play. In theory, you can play just to win like in many other sports using virtual stacks. You don't need real money for the game to function. Poker is typical gambling, people hope to get lucky money and maybe only a few of them care about the beauty of the game itself.