Is luck in poker just a mental thing?

[MiamiMackk 0]

I found this small article on poker and luck. Before the GameWhen you have an important meeting with the big boss, it's always a good idea to prepare yourself before you get there. If this habit leaks into your poker playing, then you're on your way to winning. Get psyched up. Luck does not exist. The more you concentrate on being lucky or unlucky, wishing for luck, or cursing bad luck, the more mental energy is exasperated away from the game, putting you in a mental hole. (this tip is useful throughout the game, not just before you sit down.)Would most of you agree with this???

[TJ_Eckleburg 0]

Luck isn't real. Only math.To me, the best way to think about it is that I'm going to read, learn, and play as much as I possibly can so that I can know as much as I can possibly know about poker.If you think that way, you'll be pleasantly surprised when you get lucky, and unluckiness makes you play better.

[TxShadow 0]

Are you asking if some sort of mystical force called "luck" is real or not? Luck is just being on the fortunate end of the odds. There is no magic to it, it's all about the odds.

[TxShadow 0]

^---that was a random first post for me. Hi everybody :-)

[MiamiMackk 0]

Are you asking if some sort of mystical force called "luck" is real or not? Luck is just being on the fortunate end of the odds. There is no magic to it, it's all about the odds.

Just overall how you feel about luck. Be it that you feel its mystical or what not.I believe also that it has to do allot with odds and being at the fortunate place at the right time. In poker you have to work the odds to your favor. Putting yourself in a position were the odds fall more to your favor. Something I have come to realize. And has helped my game .

[Sushiman 0]

How does luck not exist? It is short term variation from the norm. There's absolutely no point in focusing on being either lucky or trying to prevent being unlucky if that's what the article is about, but it nonetheless is a factor.Saying luck does not exist is the wrong way to put it.

[Emptyeye 0]

Saying luck does not exist is the wrong way to put it.

Correct.I'm presently reading through Zen and the Art of Poker. It says pretty much the same thing, namely that while everything is normal in terms of the math over the long run, "the long run" is far longer than 99% of players realize, and plenty of weird things happen in the "short term" (Which, again, may not actually be "short" as we think of it at all). Losing streaks that continually defy the odds can happen and have happened, which even mathematicians generally accept.Whether you choose to construe this as "luck" per se is up to you, I guess.

[SomethingWicked 0]

Luck gives us tons of things to consider and is one of the reasons why poker is fun. I believe "lucky streaks" are a combination of many things. From, whether or not you "feel" lucky or are psyched up for the game. (big one for me). To whether you have a solid grasp on the mathematics of poker and can avoid many negitive emotions and steaming which can contribute to your being unlucky. What oppenents and limits you play can affect you and cause you to think your unlucky or xtremely lucky / (skilled). If you believe you are lucky, you will play to get lucky. If you believe your skilled you will play to avoid being unlucky. All people have choice. We choose, thousands of times a day thousands of times over. The fact that you even play poker says something about the way you think. You think your lucky. Whether your skilled or a complete donkey you still think your lucky. And why shouldn't you? Theres a theory about prosperity that intriges me. People, will give 10% of their income to charity or usually a church. They believe in turn that the 10% will return to them 10 fold. Ten fold, damn, I wish I was getting that return on my check raises! It so happens that many of these ppl meet up with great success. Is this a coincidence? did the 10% they give get them in greater with "god" or did they simply believe they were going to meet great success and did. You don't even have to believe in god to be a prosperous person! You don't have to belive in luck to be lucky! haha. So, now we have a third way to play. Objectively. I've found from hanging around many players, who are stong players, play very objectively, and use the strongest tools availible, which are observation and discernment.' Yet, even they find themselves getting "unlucky." So finally you get to choose, is luck real? or did you get a raw deal? Did the deal even matter, was it destiny. "I felt it coming" didn't I?! Well did you?!

[MiamiMackk 0]

Very well said Wicked. And I see your point.I hate to believe that I have to depend on luck. But I think you are right. Luck does have a a place in everything we do.

[FOOSE1 0]

I got into an argument in a big tournament with a loose passive fish that really cracked me up. He kept verbally abusing me everytime I would win a hand and kept saying that I was just getting lucky and that soon my luck would run out. Blinds were only around 50/100 and I was near the chip lead with 9,200 in chips. Here is a hand that we argued about and he said I was "lucky".Hand 3: I have A K diamonds with 2 others in the hand and I am in position. Flop comes K J 10 with 2 diamonds. First guy goes allin for his remaining 1,200 in chips, 2nd guy folds. There is 2,550 in the pot. I have top pair top kicker, gut shot straight draw, nut flush draw and gut shot straight flush draw. I call. I river my flush to beat his trip Jacks. The guy really goes off this time saying that I was a huge dog and how could I think my hand was good, blah blah blah . . . . Im a lucky &*%$#@&%^%$#.Now my point is this. Some people will say that I got extremely lucky to win this hand. Others will say that given my stack size, hand odds and pot odds that I made the correct play. The truth is he was a 60% favorite to win. But was I lucky or was it just the 40% chance that I would hit the hand?To me luck is when you hit your one outer on the river to double up. To someone else luck is when you win as a 48% favorite. Luck is whatever you make of it. Everyone views luck differently. I actually enjoy playing those who believe more that poker is mostly luck . . . because they are the ones who call your all-ins with nothing hoping to get "lucky".

[speedz99 145]

^---that was a random first post for me. Hi everybody :-)

Hello.

[rog 0]

The fact that you even play poker says something about the way you think. You think your lucky. Whether your skilled or a complete donkey you still think your lucky. And why shouldn't you?

This is completely preposterous. Poker players who understand poker see luck as irrelevant. I dont think I am either lucky or unlucky. In fact I know as a poker player, and a person educated in mathematics that nobody is lucky or unlucky in the long run. Being a poker player says about me that I believe I can make better decisions in the game than my opponents, so in the long-run when luck has evened out, I will be a winner because my skill will have been the difference.Luck is the effects of short-term variation. Gamers who play roulette and the like are trying to "get lucky"...to beat the odds. Poker players try to give themselves winning odds, not beat losing odds.

[SomethingWicked 0]

The fact that you even play poker says something about the way you think. You think your lucky. Whether your skilled or a complete donkey you still think your lucky. And why shouldn't you?

Luck is the effects of short-term variation. Gamers who play roulette and the like are trying to "get lucky"...to beat the odds. Poker players try to give themselves winning odds, not beat losing odds.

Rog, thanks I had not meant that skilled poker players play the game thinking they are lucky. Most seasoned and skilled players know that luck is only relivent in the short term. I should have said something like "The begining player thinks he or she is lucky/unlucky" After all many ppl have not grasped the mathematics of poker by the first time they sit at a live game.