Luck

I've noticed on this site, and in the poker world in general, that the roll of luck comes up alot. "I always have good luck with this hand or that". When we speak of luck, are we talking about odds or superstition. Personally I believe that the idea of bad luck has no place in the game and is an excuse for bad play. Certainly we all have "episodes" where the cards seem to go against us. This is refered to as "Bad Luck". There are times when we can do no wrong. This is refered to as "skill". What do you all think. Is there such a thing as good or bad luck?

I was just wiped from a tournament. I made A high flush when Kc came on the turn. I raised and went all in. River flops Kh. One opponent had pocket K's as well...

Yes, I knew the chance was there, but the odd's were so low that i simply had to play it out. I prefer to think the result was pure bad luck

And yes, poker is alos a game of chance. The difference between pure chance games and poker is, that skill will eventually get you in plus when you play poker.

Well if you believe the game is all about odds what do you call it when a card falls that the odds say shouldn't? You can only minimize the "luck" factor you can never eliminate it from poker. Online there's more of a luck factor cause alot of players play any 2 cards and hit miracles.

X: The game IS completely about odds. Just because someone hits that 1-outer on the river at a 44:1 shot doesnt mean its "not supposed to happen" as you said.
Every 45 times that situation occurs, the dreaded card to beat you will happen one time.

That means, you will get outdrawn a little more than 2% of the time. While these ODDS are not great at all; they still exist, therefore ODDS DO factor into the game and even if a card is "not supposed to come", there is a matehmatical possibility that it will.

The odds will never say that a card should't fall. Unless it's the joker. They only predict the rate at which a certain event will happen. Superstition is part of our nature. We tend to overephasize extreme events such as, your car breaking down on your way to work or hitting a scratch card, and we minimze the mundane, like the 1000 times you got to work safely. But our knowledge of the world is anectdotal and a poor reflection of reality.
Poker is life is fast motion. On-line we can play 100 hands an hour. In a couple of days you'll come across almost every situation imaginable. Coun't the time "you" get pocket aces, not sombody else at the table. Should be about every 220 hands. The number of times you pick up trips on the flop. Should be about 12 out of a hundred. We poker players put ourselves at the dissadvatage by giving in to our superstitions. The good news is that we can take advantage of those that do and beleive me, they're out there in heards.

Luck obviously is a factor in the game, though certainly not the only one. Assume you and your opponent are of equal skill level, and both make the correct plays at the correct times, by the book. You are then reduced to the luck of the draw. It really is as simple as that. That, by definition, can be the only deciding factor.

Now, in the real world no 2 players are of equal skill level. And, no one player plays perfectly every hand. Those factors tend, for some, to minimize the role of luck.

I can guarantee that the best players in the world would all admit that when they have won major tournaments, there certainly was a major element of luck involved.

Rails said:

Luck obviously is a factor in the game, though certainly not the only one. Assume you and your opponent are of equal skill level, and both make the correct plays at the correct times, by the book. You are then reduced to the luck of the draw. It really is as simple as that. That, by definition, can be the only deciding factor.

Now, in the real world no 2 players are of equal skill level. And, no one player plays perfectly every hand. Those factors tend, for some, to minimize the role of luck.

I can guarantee that the best players in the world would all admit that when they have won major tournaments, there certainly was a major element of luck involved.

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Not of the supernatural variety. There should be another name for what we're calling luck. It's just the odds.

You could call luck an anomally in the odds I suppose

There is a simple way to look at luck v`s odd`s. When you flip a coin you have a evens chance of calling head or tails and being right if you do this a hundred times each time is still evens but you wouldn`t expect to land heads every time,but if you did is it luck or the odds.:hmmmm:

I say Luck I hate Luck but I still think there is such a thing in poker.

Good luck and bad luck are a very big part of poker.

You will be able to do much better when you're getting pocket pairs and AK and KQ suited hands than if you're getting 10 3s and 4 8s.

There is legitamacy in that some people don't believe in luck. I call someone pulling a miracle card out of their donkey , luck.

xdmanx007 said:

There is legitamacy in that some people don't believe in luck. I call someone pulling a miracle card out of their donkey , luck.

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Maybe, but I'm sure to make a note on them so I can get my $ back. Good and bad luck are like a $2.00 whore. Neither holds out.

I cannot remember which player it was but i heard a couple of months ago something that rings true [IMO] about success & luck -

"In the short term its all down to luck - In the long run there's no such thing as luck"


iANft :thrasher: