Looking at Luck
February 23rd, 2010When you play poker in live rooms, you often encounter people who put much stock in luck. They always have some lucky token with them. There are players who prefer to sit in certain seat numbers and will refuse to sit in another just based on their belief in lucky numbers. Sometimes when a winning player leaves the table, other players will vie to grab the newly vacant “lucky” seat. When a player has gone card dead, sometimes the dealer is asked to “wash” the cards – meaning spread them all out and swish them around before shuffling.
The smart poker player knows none of this makes any difference in the game. Those who think external circumstances and superstitions have an influence on the outcome of their game are deluded. They do not comprehend the random nature of the card shuffle or the immutable laws of probability that dictate the percentage of times a needed card is likely to appear.
Luck does not play a large factor in your long term results in online poker. What does have an impact is how you react to luck. Savvy players know how to play the odds, are confident in making the right decisions, and do not let good or bad streaks affect their mind set toward the game. If you play enough poker, you are sometimes going to hit lucky streaks and sometimes the deck just goes cold on you. In either case, stick to your usual disciplined strategies and do no let immaterial circumstantial events prompt you to attribute magical properties to the cards, seat, dealer, lucky charms or whatever.
