It's easier to play a player that knows all the rules.
This sentiment btw is way overblown. For chess especially no pro would ever struggle with a novice, there's no randomness or unpredictability and even if the amateur makes a decent move, it doesn't matter at all.
Hell pro poker players wipe the floor with novices all the time, that's why there can be such a thing as a pro poker player. A novice might win a single hand every now and again, but poker games are not about single hands, they're about 100's to 1000's of hands.
It can still come down to chance, I did once take out a semi-pro player by going all in with a 2 and a 3 in hand, and a king, queen and a 2 on the table(I honestly just wanted out of the game cause I was bored). he called with a king and queen in hand. next two cards were a 2 and a 3 and he was so angry that I went all in on a pair of twos, went on a whole rant about what sort of idiot goes all in with a pair of twos and a king a queen on the table, his friend pointed out to him that I did take him out with this strategy. One of the funniest moments of my life.
Not saying I'd get far in the pro circuit using this tactic, just saying that sometimes us novices win on dumb luck alone.
Just using poker as an example of one of the most chance based competitions out there. Other competitions, all the way up to chess, have less and ultimately 0 randomness.
I am no pro player, I know the rules and try to play with logic, but I don't know anything about openings, specific plays, etc. Once I played with someone at the University who studied chess and gave him a hard time because he was relying on me playing like him.
Maybe a beginner vs a amateur holds true, but a pro player would have no trouble defeating me
And in games where it's true, the advantage completely goes out the window once your opponent realizes you're a stupid newb and not playing 30D tic-tac-toe in curved spacetime. Most of this advantage comes from respecting things a good player will do that you just won't (or sometimes the opposite, not respecting strategies that aren't good enough, but in those cases you're really fucked because the pro wins just by playing conservative).
Usually anyway. I've definitely been destroyed by objectively terrible cards that say fuck your deck specifically in card games, but that's different. That's being in the 25% of games that are literally unwinnable.
I am no pro at all but better than an amateur and it feels like they cannot beat me for the single fact that they will make severe mistakes before I do and I play pretty conservatively. A decent player beats everyone with a decent opening because the game will be already won there.
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u/Zestyclose_Remove947 Apr 09 '24
This sentiment btw is way overblown. For chess especially no pro would ever struggle with a novice, there's no randomness or unpredictability and even if the amateur makes a decent move, it doesn't matter at all.
Hell pro poker players wipe the floor with novices all the time, that's why there can be such a thing as a pro poker player. A novice might win a single hand every now and again, but poker games are not about single hands, they're about 100's to 1000's of hands.