Skill vs. Luck in Poker
The money to be gained or lost in a home poker game tends to mean next to nothing and everyone almost always plays every hand to the end. Add in to that, dealer's choice and the ever popular "wild cards" and you have a recipe for gambling on your hand, not playing it. In these situations, it's often the middle hand that wins by catching a lucky card on the river. Another reason why luck has such a big role in home-style poker games is that many of the skills we use in professional style games just don't come into play in a home game. Skills, such as patience in determining which hands to play, when to bluff, and how to read your opponent just aren't used when playing low-limit against your relatives.
If you are playing too many hands in a tough poker game, you will find yourself short stacked in no time.
Patience
If you play too many hands in a pro-level poker game, you will likely not win - it is mathematically impossible to last for any length of time. But, if you play this many hands in a home game, you may fair better because the sheer size of the pot from the hands you draw out on may offer sufficient pot-odds to draw on that inside straight or whatever the case may be. Especially, if there are "wild cards".
Bluffing
Another big difference between home poker games and pro-style games is bluffing. Bluffing will succeed in a professional poker game. It is hard to pull off a bluff in the family oriented game.
The main reason for this is the limits are set against you. That 25 cents you've raised the pot isn't going to be enough to scare anyone away, even if it was a check-raise. Anyone will call, even if they thought they were beaten. In a professional poker game, bluffing is a sound strategy. If you've played very few hands, it's very possible to steal a pot at the end of a hand by becoming overly aggressive at the right time.
Your opponents will almost certainly put you on a strong hand, if not the nuts.
Reading your opponent
Another very important element in professional poker games is the ability to read your opponent. In most home games, there is not so much money in the pot, in pro poker, however, there is enough money involved that a good read can be very valuable. If professional poker was a game of chance or luck, there would be no such thing as professionally poker player and the people you see on the television constantly winning tournaments (i.e. Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, etc) would just have to be the luckiest people in the world.
This, obviously, is not the case.
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