It has always been my conviction that a better understanding of anything that influences our game of poker leads to a stronger game. So, I have always been fascinated with those strange forces that haunt our game: chance, unlikely events, probabilities, and the grand old goddess herself, luck.
Like most folks, whether I am roaming through life or through a casino, I am always keen on bending good luck in my direction. Sometimes I am successful, but most of the time I am not.
I keep hoping and searching for a greater understanding of luck.
One that will give me the right edge at the right time, everytime. I often wonder if such an understanding of luck even exists. I wonder if there are any lessons about how to be luckier? Or, less unlucky? Anything at all?
Well, maybe there is this: simply understanding and accepting that chance, or luck, is a part of our universe is probably a good beginning. We confront chance, or chance confronts us, everyday and all kinds of stuff happens. Right? Right. And, we seem helpless against these whims of fate.
But, there is something that we can do to influence fate.
The critical path towards influence is to learn to recognize when chance (or fate, or luck) has a high likelihood of affecting an outcome.
In other words, we can learn to assess risk. Then, we can begin to calculate when to avoid and when to embrace that risk. And hopefully, in the process become not only wiser, but a little luckier and a little less unlucky.
However, risk assessment alone does not lead to an understanding of the mechanics of luck. Because, sometimes luck is purely accidental. That is, being in the right place at the right time, and not in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But sometimes, luck is realized by boldly seizing an opportunity. And sometimes, luck is found by following your heart. Or, your head. Or, your gut. So, good luck can be merely accidental, or the result of our conscious ambition.
Apart from the accidental, we can conclude that most of the time we make our own good luck.
Or, at least we can choose to avoid a lot of bad luck. The formula is simple enough: make well-informed decisions factoring in the correct amounts of caution, courage, and boldness. Then, proceed accordingly.
More than likely, you will either attract good luck, or good luck will seek you out, or hopefully, you will sidestep a lot of bad luck.
This technique is, you will notice, based upon good information, good decision making, and the will to follow through.
Literally, in this model, we do indeed create our own good luck. The operating keys are to gain good information, and to make good decisions. In poker these are, of course, the acknowledged, principal tasks for achieving winning play. Still in poker, we can do everything right, yet still suffer long periods of bad luck.
Well, poker is gambling, after all. And, gambling is all about assessing risk and taking chances. As such, a good understanding of probability theory can help the poker player to quickly shrug off bad luck.
Basically, probability theory helps us to understand the universal truth that anything is possible, no matter how unlikely. Chance and chaos are always around, always at work, and always keen on providing the most amazingly unusual of events. In poker, these amazingly unusual events are commonly known as bad beats and suckouts.
Nevertheless, the universal truth that anything is possible is indeed the understanding that we seek.
Because, with this understanding we poker players can, even given the worst of luck, maintain our mental equilibrium. Since, we then hold the certain knowledge that if we continue to make correct, well informed decisions, in the long run we will be winners.
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Read my Article Review of this article, Understanding Luck in Poker.
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Copyright 2009 R. Steve McCollum
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