I got very lucky the other night and hit a royal at Harrah's Rincon. This is the same royal I talked about in this thread: http://vegascasinotalk.com/forum/showth...odest-win-goal.

And here is the photo again. Take a look a look at the photo because I'd like to discuss it.



I was actually dealt a straight, with a 9 of diamonds. Proper strategy tells us to sacrifice a dealt straight when you have four cards to a royal flush. That's what I did and I got lucky. I drew the Ace of hearts for the royal. I can't tell you how many times I've had four to the royal over the many years of play and did not draw the royal card -- or even a card to make a flush, or a straight, or even get a paying pair.

Earlier on the same machine I was dealt four to the royal twice and drew a "blank" meaning a card that did not give me a paying pair.

However, these four card royals do connect. The royal in this photo actually is my second royal in a row where I was dealt four to the royal and drew the royal card. And the royal above was the third royal this year (I've had a total of six this year) where I was dealt four to the royal and drew the royal card.

Had you asked me a year ago I would have told you that drawing the fifth card for a royal was pretty much a pipe dream. Although about eight years ago I also got a royal after dropping one card which gave me a straight and drawing the royal card.

So how much of this was luck and how much of this was skill? Clearly, what the RNG or random number generator gives you is a matter of luck or being in the right place at the right time. The skill is knowing when to take the chance, as in this case, giving up a dealt straight which was worth $40 for a chance at a royal flush for $8,000.

When I first started playing video poker -- and this goes back perhaps 15 years ago -- I vividly recall being dealt a flush with four cards to the royal, and I held the flush. My reasoning was this: a flush in the hand is worth a royal in the bush. But this was before I read my first video poker book, or read my first magazine article about it. (There was no "Internet" site back then to check for proper strategy.)

But while I did use "skill" to decide to go for the royal in the photo above, the reality is it was all luck. "Luck" gave me the four to the royal. All of the practice I put in using practice software, all of the hours spent reading books and web sites and Internet articles and magazine, all of the discussions I've had about proper strategy, even the seminars I've attended with gaming gurus about video poker proper strategy had absolutely no impact on the RNG.

It was luck that had me sitting in the seat and pressing the button at the exact moment that the RNG was about to spit out a straight with four to the royal. And it was luck that had the Ace of Hearts as the replacement card when I pushed the draw button.

Yes, skill and knowledge are important, but it's still a game of luck.

So why is this important? It's important because there are now court decisions, and legislative efforts to legalize online gaming either within state boundaries or even nationally. Live poker or Internet Poker as it is known, has a pretty good shot of seeing daylight soon in several states and perhaps in a nationwide network. Live poker or poker played against other players has a much higher skill element and for that reason it has a better chance of approval than "video poker" where your fate is pretty much all controlled by a gambling device.

While there are many who would like to legalize all forms of online casino gambling, live poker with its various skill elements such as betting, bluffing, reading, drawing really has a better shot as an approved skill game than video poker played with one human vs. one machine has.

Personally, I think the casino industry is going to shoot itself in the foot if it gets involved or supports any kind of online gaming, including online "live poker."