When unskilled, complicate the game and add randomness
By complicating the game, you create situation where a strong opponent has to compete with you on multiple overlapping dimensions. While your competitors might be strong along one or a few lines of skill, they are unlikely to be extremely competent at a complex combination of many skills. Thus, the skill distribution for multivariable competition is much narrower, giving you better odds of coming out on top.
Randomness helps you when you have a high probability of losing anyway. Since the probability of losing is bounded at 100%, additional randomness generally only helps you, as it opens you up to positive tails that can lead to a win that you wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to.
References
The Greatest White Pill of All
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