Home Wine Support Wine Questions/Answers Wine Quickstart Guide Working applications          » Graphics/animation » Home/Education » Internet » Multimedia » Office » Scientific/technical » Utilities » Programming » Webdesign Working games » Action » Emulators » First Person Shooters » Puzzle » RPG/Adventures » Simulation » Strategy Howtos » Installing .msi » Wine and MIDI » WINEPREFIX » Poker news Wine utilities » Installation scripts » WineXS Commercial Wine » CrossOver Linux » Cedega » Bordeaux Downloads Links Contact google click fraud lawsuit	Luck and Skill When you play Texas Holdem poker you play a game that involves a little luck and a great deal of skill. Often we hear about how a player got lucky or hit a one outer on the river and wonder just how much skill is involved in the game of poker. The fact of the matter is that you are going to need to get lucky to be a successful tournament or cash game player. However, that luck will not sustain you in lieu of skill. Ultimately the combination of the two is what makes a successful poker player. Skill Skill is exactly what one would think it is. Skill is defined as the ability to perform with minimal mistakes as well as the ability to take advantage of weakness in your opponents. That may sound easy but it encompasses many things. A part of the skill required to play poker is involved with hand selection. Another part of poker skill is understanding the aggression or lack thereof at your particular poker table. Lastly, the ability to make good reads consistently is one of the most important skills a poker player can posses. Without that ability you might as well forget about playing live poker tournaments. Over the long run skill wins out over all other elements in the game and that includes the luck factor or variance. Luck The element of luck is exactly as one is led to believe it is. Luck is the untimely swing of cards hitting at the right time. Luck can be manifested in a player being dealt an inordinate number of premium hands. Luck can be picking up Pocket Aces or Kings twice in a row. Luck can be manifested when you hit a one or two outer on the river. Luck can show itself in a number of ways as you can see. However, the one thing luck cannot do for your poker game is sustain you over time. No matter how lucky you may be you will never be able to have sustained success in cash games or poker tournaments without being a skilled player. Making Your Luck I know that may sound contrary but it isn't at all. Many people would say, "How can you make your own luck?" The way you make your own luck is to be involved in the game in terms of the amount of hands you play. This is not to say that you do this indiscriminately. Just because you are playing a hand does not mean that you don’t need to know when to get out of the pot. The best way to manage making your own luck is to have a stack large enough to peek and poke around in pots with marginal hands from various positions. It also means knowing when to call and what amount makes sense to call should the flop bring something your way that allows you to continue in the hand. Many players, particularly Gus Hansen types, like to be involved no matter how many chips they have. The fact of the matter is that you cannot accumulate chips if you are not playing enough hands. You have to remain active but you need to be disciplined enough to know when that activity is not bringing you a positive return. Ultimately, you cannot live without luck and skill. Knowing the difference between the two and how luck or variance effects your game will help your game tremendously. If you know when things are going your way then you can instantly be sure to get involved in as many pots as possible while variance is on your side. When things start to break even again you can throttle down accordingly. The pros do it all the time and you should too. Archives July 2010 June 2010
© 2005 Frank Hendriksen, Frank's Corner

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