Nope, super easy.
The basic combat system is just matching poker hands to trigger 'spells', so you might have set up a Three of a Kind to map to a Fire3 skill. Each time you match a three of a kind, you cast a Fire 3 (do direct damage + apply fire damage). Then the enemy gets a turn to do the same to you.
But if you don't know poker you can also click AUTO (or press space), and it'll do its best to make a match (using the same AI as your opponent).
If you've got the debug menu enabled (CTRL+J) you can also skip to the end of combat by pressing 0 (number zero).
Some people really get into the combat system, and spend a lot of time on the Paths, others just want the story... the game tries to cater to the entire range of players.