Luck in Tournaments

[PershingSt]

Tournaments are high variance , like you said much higher than some other forms of poker . However there are also more bad players in tournaments still to this day imo, than in most cash games you will find. There is still skill involved when you play a lot of tournaments , it just takes a little volume to see anywhere near your true expectation.

 

[yeezus]

Definitely have to have some luck in order to win a tournament. Skill is a big factor as well though. The consistent winners in MTT's are far more skilled than a one time wonder who did get lucky to take down a tourney.

 

[ScoobyNL]

You need time, luck an playing al lot off MTT to win one of them.

I like to play MTT 11$ and higher because low MTT is taking far to long to get enough $ to make me happy.

 

[Serjo600]

Tournaments are usually long and the variance involved were higher when compared to cash game and sng.

Do you believe we need luck to win a tournament?

Anyone familiar with such a word as dispersion. So that in tournaments, you play on a regular basis, win more often, you need at least occasionally to deal prizes.:driver:

 

[midgetfactory]

Luck is a factor to go deep deep, but also knowing when to get it in and when to fold plays a more important role in your overall performance i think

 

[yjt93]

luck is always a factor, variance can be higher in MTTs but you should still be able to win long term

 

[Ivab]

Without luck you can not do in poker. But if you rely on luck too often, it will never be a successful player. There are days when no matter how he played, in any case lose. Conversely, there are successful band, when you win too often, even in the middle hand. I believe that the better the player the less it depends on luck.

 

[AKQ]

89% skill 11% luck

 

[FlyingFitz]

Huge Factor

Luck is a huge factor in poker, even without the coin tosses (all in pre-flop). Every time a new card is added, it can dramatically change your hand and your apponents hand. If you never hit any of your cards you are dealt, no matter if you try and wait until you get a big hand, you can't win. You have to be lucky and have some skill in order to get ahead in this game. For example you wait 20 hands without going in waiting for pocket kings or aces. You finally get them and either everyone folds at the first sign of a raise and you only win the blind, or their pocket 3's hit and now they have 3 of a kind vs your pocket aces, which in turn you lose that hand. You need to hit your cards in order to progress, the skill comes in knowing how to play lower hands and making them win through betting, but you still need luck. If you try and bluff and get called on it, again you lose. So many things need to happen to win, a lot of it luck for you have no control over the cards being dealt.

 

[paulsmall007]

lucks a big factor to win multiple tournaments anyone can win just one. a lot more skill then luck, getting it in good on flips and being patient and not getting involved in hands because your bored.

 

[MoeJurphy]

Maybe so, but people give to much credit for the luck in most of the things in life. If they see someone else who is very successful at something they say "oh, he is so lucky", without acknowledging the fact that that person probably worked very hard for it.
If they, themselves, fail at something they say, "ah, I got bad luck" as an excuse. Sometimes it might be the unlucky factor, but the majority of the times people will not see their own lack of perseverance, motivation or hard work.
A simple example I heard a lot is that during some exam they say that they got unlucky with the questions, while actually they did not study everything well enough.
That's why I used to say when people would wish me good luck: "luck is not a factor".

Now in poker of course a higher amount of luck is in play, but still, long term winners are just good. Period.

This is what I mean, you can't control luck so you can't bring it into account you an work hard on your game and patch any leaks. Regardless luck is going to come and go that's apart of anything. Like you say the artists have worked very hard for them to get there a bit of luck helps but they aren't going to count on luck toget to where they are now.

 

[MoeJurphy]

Who ever says with out luck you can't do well in poker is just wrong, mathematically and statistically get your hand in good every time and your going to win overtime. Luck is gettin it in bad constantly and constantly winning surely?

 

[JCuervo]

Every tournament you have to get lucky at least once. If not, you'd never win. If I could just figure out howto avoid the river...I'd win every game

 

[gardin555]

I think luck is 20 percent in tournaments, strategy and knowledge of other players is the rest.
So pay attention at the table is so important when making decisions, as well as create an image of ourselves to them.

 

[Talden]

I may be.off base here but "luck" is involved in every hand ever dealt at poker, or runny, spades etc. There is no skill whatsoever involved in the deal(un less your live and the dealer is bottom dealing..Lol) you get whatever cards lady luck gives you. What you do with those cards is where the skill comes in. So yes you need to be lucky to get the cards, and then skillful enough to play them correctly I mean. That's my 2 cents. Everyone have a great day.. Tal

 

[scuxbr]

the short term, need a little luck, but if the long-term play , surely will have more skill than luck.

 

[Fish2014]

I always e said that there is no luck in the online game it is best to have a clear strategy

 

[Halid68]

I don t like luck but it is part of game

 

[MakeUcryalot]

Yes luck is a needed in order to consistently win tournaments because of the nature of poker. A tourney is honestly a series of coinflips that you have to win every single one of them to even make your money back. I have a friend that plays poker for a living and he plays about 15 tourneys a day a few times a week at 50-200-$ buy-in's, makes his money back off of 1 or 2 and wins 1st to 3rd about once every two weeks- a month with heavy downswings in between big wins, sometimes lasting for months at a time. He has played poker his entire life in a winning manner and can safely say he makes no wrong moves. That should help you understand the need for luck in winning first place in any poker tourney.

 

[Abramo Della Luce]

I may be.off base here but "luck" is involved in every hand ever dealt at poker, or runny, spades etc. There is no skill whatsoever involved in the deal(un less your live and the dealer is bottom dealing..Lol) you get whatever cards lady luck gives you. What you do with those cards is where the skill comes in. So yes you need to be lucky to get the cards, and then skillful enough to play them correctly I mean. That's my 2 cents. Everyone have a great day.. Tal

If you see every hand as an independent hand, you could indeed talk about luck, but if you see all hands together over a long period of time it becomes statistics and not luck. Nobody will be playing thousands of hand without have AA once in a while and on average everyone will get them once every 220 hands if I'm recalling it correctly (sometimes it will take 1000 hands, sometimes you will get them twice after eachother). In the end, over a long time, everyone will have about the same chances and luck will be less involved.

 

[PackerBell]

In most cases, the site provides maps of the one with the big stack

 

[diegoduran]

When you get deep and start relying on winning flips, luck can take you a long way...

 

[ItryhardAA]

has to be luck involved

there has to be luck with all the variance involved but the main objective then is getting big staked so you can lose the variance hands but later in tournament its just comes out to coin flips

 

[OgKb]

When playing on pokerstars youd better have a four leaf clover with the bs they catch you with.

 

[Talden]

If you see every hand as an independent hand, you could indeed talk about luck, but if you see all hands together over a long period of time it becomes statistics and not luck. Nobody will be playing thousands of hand without have AA once in a while and on average everyone will get them once every 220 hands if I'm recalling it correctly (sometimes it will take 1000 hands, sometimes you will get them twice after each other). In the end, over a long time, everyone will have about the same chances and luck will be less involved.

Dude i never thought about it like that, but you are absolutely correct. I guess after say a million hands all the "lucky" deals will normalize and the randomness will become less random, If you know what I'm trying to say...lol That's why I love reading this forum a different view point and it makes you think outside your own box, thanks for that. But as for luck in tourneys I still believe you need to get lucky too, last night I won my first tourney, HU I'm chip leader buy a little margin I get 88, a good hand HU imo, I run it into 10 10 all in. Turn an 8 and I win first time. Tonight in a 10 buck freeroll i get paid back, I'm sitting 10/45 when i get AA, the best hand PF.Oh well at least I got it in good...lol. Y'all have a great evening...Tal