There are actually more rules to memorize and more combinations of different possibilities that can happen in any given hand of poker, especially at a full table of 9 people each with 2 cards in their hands, and 5 cards on the table. It can be a lot to think about and you have to use probabilities and betting amounts to know when to fold and wait for a better hand. However, I think chess takes longer to be able to really be good competition against someone who plays it a lot. Let’s face it, poker has a lot of strategy, but about %30-%50 of each hand is about the "Luck of the draw"