Is poker a game of luck, or a game of skill?

I learned about luck and skill-and poker-in the back seat of a 1957 Buick. At that time, the great American game of poker was only about 100 years old. I was eight.
     The game was five-card draw, penny ante. You could bet up to ten cents. My teachers were my friend Ricky and his older brother Dan. We were on our way to their lake cabin for the weekend. Their parents were in the front seat, happy that we were not demanding ice cream or restroom stops. I had two dollars and change in my pocket for essentials such as candy, soda, and baseball cards.
     We played for the entire three-hour drive. Dan dominated the game, betting and raising with ten-year-old ferocity. I quickly came to understand that poker was a game unlike any I had ever encountered-more exciting and more painful. This game is not just about winning or losing; it is about winning or losing something.

Thirty years later, at a writers' conference I learned something else: Writers love poker. I've since played poker with mystery writers, romance writers, sci-fi writers, writers of teen books, and just about every other variety of writer you could name. It occurred to me that writers who like to play poker might also like to write about it.
     I also noticed that, in my many visits to high schools and middle schools, teens had embraced poker in a big way. Televised poker has introduced a whole new generation to the game. Poker chips in school have become nearly as common as iPods and backpacks. The famous poker legends-Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Stuey Ungar-are now as familiar to many teens as Tiger Woods, Shaquille O'Neal, or Tony Hawk.
     At the same time, the world's top poker players are getting younger every year. Every year we see more young players make their first million before their twenty-fifth birthday. For a teen with card smarts and a penchant for taking risks, the lure of big money poker can be irresistible.
     Like most sports, poker has the potential to be both rewarding and dangerous, educational and mind-numbing, fulfilling and soul-shattering. The stories in this book explore the many guises of this great American game: weapon of vengeance, instrument of self-destruction, key to sudden wealth, ticket to love. Each writer brings his or her own unexpected and unique perspective to the game, reminding us that every poker game is different-and the same. The players, the stakes, and even the rules change from one game to the next. But always-always-you can count on one thing: the cards will surprise you.
     And so will these stories.

By the way, my first poker lesson? It ended shortly before we reached the lake cabin. Danny had won all my money. That was my first clue that poker was a game of skill. We played again the next day, after I found I found a dollar bill tucked into a secret compartment in my wallet. On the first hand I drew four cards to an ace and made a full house, winning two dollars.
     I understood then that poker was also a game of luck. The combination of those two elemental forces-luck and skill-proved irresistible. I haven't passed up a game since.

--Pete Hautman