Luck vs. Skill in Online Poker
We've all seen players go through a streak of bad beats at one
time or another. It can lead people to think winning at poker is
impossible, but it just shows that even though skill is a big part
of poker, there's also a lot of luck involved. You must look past
this and convince yourself that skill will always triumph over luck
in the long run.
In that respect, poker is like the stock market. Some days it
goes up, and some days it goes down. Sometimes people get lucky and
pick a great company that prospers as stocks rise steadily.
Sometimes poker players get lucky when they constantly draw out on
the river. It can take months to become a consistent winner.
I've read books that say it can take more than 1,400 hours of
good play to win at a given limit. While I don't believe it takes
this long to see results, I do think that you should be able to win
over the course of one month (depending on how much you play). If
you play three to four hours per day on average, I predict it will
take half a month to a month to see consistent results.
You'll occasionally see players go on huge runs. They seem to win
every time they play just because they're lucky. This isn't the
case. These same players, when running cold, will throw away their
money faster than Donald Trump. On any given day, a fish can get
lucky and beat even the top poker players, but over the course of
many sessions, the pro will always win.
Two aspects are very important when talking about luck - luck
makes players play worse and healthy bankrolls reduce luck
Luck Makes Players Play Worse
Luck will make even the best players play worse. When a player
gets lucky he'll slowly start to loosen up. If you're getting lucky,
take a break and ask yourself if this is the right way to play the
game. Luck can come and go anytime, so you need to evaluate your
play and get back to the basics. Playing skillfully will win in the
long run.
Healthy Bankrolls Reduce Luck
A healthy bankroll helps reduce luck to a minimum. When you're
playing well you'll seem to take more bad beats because the horrible
players are drawing out on you a lot. But, if you have a large
bankroll in proportion to your current game it won't bother you as
much.
I always keep as much money as I can for the game I choose to
play. This helps me forget about the bad beats I take every day. |
