In poker, there are two kinds of players. Those at war with luck and those that embrace it.
THSpanda8: have u ever read a book called fooled by randomness by taleb
modoaddict: nope
modoaddict: is it good?
THSpanda8: its a good book about the stock market but the concepts apply really well to poker also. its a pretty famous finance book
modoaddict: hm
modoaddict: interesting
THSpanda8: haha this is a one sentence summary of the book but tell me if it doesnt sound more like poker to u
THSpanda8: "the book looks at egotistical wall street types who experience temporary success and huge bonuses, but dont understand that they are only temporarily lucky. Shortly thereafter they are out of work and cannot understand why."
modoaddict: LOL
THSpanda8: translate to:
THSpanda8: "the book looks at egotistical poker players who experience temporary success and huge wins, but dont understand that they are only temporarily lucky. Shortly thereafter they are broke and cannot understand why."
Modoaddict is my screen name.
THSpanda8 is Jeff. He got mentioned a few posts back.
Texas Hold'Em is a game of luck. In any given hand, I can be dealt AA, and so can you. Who gets it is entirely luck. When you have AdKd, whether or not you will improve to beat QQ is entirely luck. Everyone knows this. Poker is inherently a game about luck and catching cards.
Except it's a bit more than that. Because the game is more than just having cards. It's about what you do with them.
Texas Hold'Em is a game of skill. The best players consistantly win tournaments and make a living off a game where each person could be dealt the winning hand at any given time. It's entirely luck when it comes down to who is dealt AA. But it's entirely skill that determines how much you win or lose with it. And furthermore, sometimes the most skilled player will lose more than the worst player in a given hand. Sometimes the worse player will win more, but the goal is to play optimally regardless of the outcome.
This is the reality of poker. In any given hand the best player can win and the worst player comes out on top. Yet keep doing it enough time, and its the better player who has all the chips.
In the short term, luck is king.
In the long term, skill is king.
You will often hear about people who complain about getting bad beat. Who got coolered. Who whine about this and that. Some people will say they shouldn't have done this or should've done that because so and so card came. These people are results oriented. That is not the proper way to think about poker.
I see it differently. In poker, a winning players always plays for the long run. They want to make the move that produces the greatest profit if they were to do it over and over again.
In my mind, when I get AA all in preflop, the hand ended. The board can come any 5 cards and which cards fall is PURE LUCK. No one has control over that. It doesn't affect whether or not I played the hand well. So it's irrelevant. Now that doesn't mean be an emotionless robot. But what it does mean, is to not let the cards that fall affect your play. When you got your chips in the middle, you've down what you could. Luck will balance out eventually. Just make sure you get there. Keep your head on straight. Always remember, that no matter what cards fall, you can only analyze how you played before that.
Remember it's a two way street. Don't get cocky because you're winning. Look back. Did you get lucky? Running good is more than just picking up cards. It means connecting with draws more often than normal. Flopping top pair more often than normal. Them missing more often than normal. This is all running good. The AIM conversation is about poker players who think they are extremely talented. In reality they just run good, develop bad habits and eventually go broke. The percentage of "Poker Pros" that really last is pretty low. Many of them have undergone a very strenous examination of their game and understand they play exceptionally.
It takes the right mindset to win at this game. Always play your best. Never let your mind get thrown off track because of the cards. Be honest with how you are playing.
And the money will find it's way to you.
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