I won a good little piece today

Playing at my local casino I almost tripled up my 250 dollar buy in. I consider myself an above average player but have lost at least 1500 in the last month....very bad run for the 1/2 limits I'm playing at.

I don't think you can place enough importance on the fact that we have to catch cards. I caught my flushes today, big pp's, and then that allows you to start running over the table after a while of showing down monsters that got there. LUCK plays a HUGE part in this game, if you don't catch cards you're probably not going to win unless you're uber talented. Hell I caught JJ's in the hole twice and flopped a set each time and didn't hardly make any money on them, it could've been a MUCH bigger day than it was.

I wanted to post this because I don't see enough of these types of posts on this board. This is mainly an internet players board which is cool, I've played thousands of hands online too. But I read about all these people on here winning freerolls, tournaments etc, and you folks are winning because you're catching cards as I did today in a live game. Just a humble little message.

Being a good poker player isn't all about catching cards though. I mean, luck does play a huge part in the game, but when you stretch it out over thousands and thousands and thousands of hands - you're going to have heaters. You're going to have cold spells too. You can be the luckiest player alive, but if you don't have the ability to maximize your profits, without falling into cooler type situations, over the long run you wont show profit.

I'm still a break even player overall though so I really dont have those skills, I'm just speaking in theory. lol

I'm sure it feels good to believe that, but it's wrong.

Fact is, we all have the same luck, but some know how to manipulate the odds in their favor maximizing profit, and minimizing loss.

Over the long haul, you win if you are good, or you lose.

Of course lightening can strike in a giant tourney.

To expand upon this a little further, I went again yesterday and bought in the 1/2 game with 300 bucks and walked out with almost a grand. Three hands made my night, AKvsAQ, and two full houses against straights. I should've won about 1500 but my trip kings were run down after a guy goes runner, runner for a flush.

You've got to catch big hands and then get paid off, this is no easy game. It's a double edged sword there, getting paid off is tricky too.

the difference- to me- is that i can count on the odds in a live game whereas on the internets I cannot because 7/1-5/1 dogs win way more often, despite people who would abjure this statement. but everything else, say leading up to such situations, and when you don't have the cards is more important.

You won $500 and then $700, but lost $1500 last month. Sure hope this is a turning point !!

It is on those days when we are not catching the cards that our true value as poker players is determined. I'm convinced that greaty players can do well on those days, and donkies will bray on those days. And the fish will gurgle in the BBV thread on those days.

Incidentally, I gurgle and bray most days.......

not bad... better than leaving the place with empty pocket..

OnT: reading post like those could help encourage others to play more.. :P

i agree there is a lot of luck involved (especially online donkaments)
but these are more for fun
than serious poker
higher stakes is where the skills come into play
otherwise the top players (phil ivey etc.)
would not win consistently
if it was just down to luck

right it's just luck but don't tell congress we got them convinced there is skill involved

I realize now that when they're stealing the blinds or forcing me to fold good hands oop or get me to put money in with worse hands they are not using position or skill , they're just catching cards

I'm gonna just keep reading and practicing because the more I learn the luckier I get

Me too. Funny, that.

the more i learn the luckier I get

Yes!

I need a new slightly larger g-clamp, 9/10 winning sessions and I can only just get my head through the bedroom door. I was trying to tell my lovely lady about winrates, and how winning skilled players are happy with 10bb/100, and how when I went to bed I'd been running> 100bb/100 hands at .05c/.10c.

She sorta shrugged and asked if we should go play a tourney in Nelson tonight. We went, 4 tables, I busted just before FT with 4bb and A10d. She got 2nd and won the last man standing for $100. All the way home it was, so how much did you win with your 100bb/100 hands?

I love how people fight to please their ego: "No! It's only a game of skill!I rock and there is little luck involved!" Screw this!The OP is realisitc! if there's something I learned from all the books and games I played is that luck is the only difference when you're facing good players(with bad players it's different)! Poker is about 50% luck and 50% skill no way around it...but on the long run skill can get to about 67% just because your luck has to even out sometime.

But that's poker, and if people don't like it they can go back to playing a 100%skill (and 0% luck) game like Chess!

Actually, there is a random element in Chess also, although it`s much smaller. Because even the best players cannot compute the variations more than 6 to 8 moves ahead, it is not possible to anticipate exactly the long-term outcome of your next move. If that were not the case, all games between strong players would always end in stalemate, because it would always be possible to find the perfect defence to any attack.

It's not all about the cards. Some people practice playing blind and not looking at there cards just to work on there reading skills and knowing where three at in the hand if they had such and such. I agree poker has luck involved but I hat when people say there is soooooo much luck involved

The best poker players are the ones who can get lots of money in the pot when they are ahead but put the least amount of money in the pot when they are behind

Very well stated pascal LeFiscal