Quote:...well, at least with chess, you know that a 1200-rated player is never going to beat a grandmaster, no matter how many games they play (unless the grandmaster is thoroughly wasted, or unless he/she dies while playing the game and hence loses on time). With cards, there's always the chance that a complete idiot will win a hand here and there...
Well, "never" isn't true. If I randomly picked moves to make, I could beat a grandmaster (just with extremely low probability). But yeah, the randomness in card games can be extremely angering...not that randomness reduces the amount of skill required, it just reduces the impact of that skill.
I need to get back in to bridge. My parents are both life masters and I used to be decent but stopped, partly out of being unable to find a partner. For anyone who hasn't played it, there is indeed a ton of skill involved (it's one of two "mind sports" recognized by the International Olympic Committee, the other obviously being chess). Most bridge players tend to play backgammon as well, which is also fun and dependent on a ton of skill...sigh, my affinity for combo skill/chance games gives me more interests than I know what to do with
Also, somebody (read: BitBuster) needs to make a Chess thread. We need to get some intra-community games going! We could even do some Malkovich games. (a concept which can be extended to more than chess)