Topic on Talk:Gambling Game
This is a permanent link to a single version of this post.
This version is from 2 years ago.
You can see the differences from the previous version, or view other versions on the post history page.
I can see a distinction there. Blackjack can be played without wagering anything; at its root, it's a contest of who knows probability math well enough to come closest to a score of 21 without going over. Poker, on the other hand, has an element of psychology (the bluff or lack thereof) in addition to the probability math needed to get a decent hand, and it's that psychology that leads to the gambling - even if all that's being risked is one's reputation as a good player. Stud and hold'em versions of poker don't even have the probability math - they're all luck and bluffing.
Nothing in the trope description as it read when I posted this requires the gambling stakes to be tangible.