
Originally Posted by
Arcane_Mathematician

Originally Posted by
esbo

Originally Posted by
Arcane_Mathematician
since it's player dependant, the probability is variable.
???what?
see my first post in this thread. The probability of you winning is, approximately, in terms of percentages,

% where n is the number of players at the table, since in a blind draw each of you has an equal probability of getting the winning hand.
And, Rocket makes a valid point on success, though I assume you simply wanted to know how often you would win, (i.e. suppose there were no money involved)
If there is no money involved you are playing some game other than poker. The whole point of poker is to balance probability, strategy and psychology. The skill in poker lies in the betting. Without betting and the player having some "skin" in the game, there little difference between poker and craps. Everybody at the table has an equal chance of getting a good hand. It is the skilled players who "know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em" and therein lies the essence of the game. Poker is not really a game of chance, except when players are relatively evenly matched or over a very short period of time.
Betting affects the probability of winning. That is part of the strategy of poker. If you leave that out of consideration you are analyzing some other game.
I have a friend who makes money pretty regularly playing poker. His secret ? He only bets when the likely return justifies the bet. He wins because he knows the odds and because he gets into games with people who don't know what they are doing. He just loves playing with idiots.
That is why good poker players can make money, while those who gamble on most other games eventually lose. In poker you do not play against the house, you only play against other players. The house only gets a small fee for each pot. After that the players play against each other, and that is a zero-sum game. Good players can consistently come out on top, because there is strategy involved. Bad players consistently lose. This is despite the fact that there should be no long-term statistical difference in the hands that they are dealt. If it were not for strategy, then in the long run everybody would come out even (less the fee paid to the house). But the sheep get sheared regularly, and the good players are not gambling.
Esbo, want a game ?