There are many great poker quotes. Some you recognize, other cheesy ones, you probably have heard to death . Maybe a few of them you remember fondly and follow their guidance or laugh at their wittiness.
But there are also quotes, which most poker players might not fully understand. One such example is this quote by Jesse May, regarding the luck in Poker.
Poker is combination of luck and skill. People think mastering the skill part is hard. but they are wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck.
Jesse May
Luck in poker , as in life, is something, which seems hard to control. Events often unfold in such manner, that they seem impossible to change. Yet, think how many times you have seen the same people get “lucky” in poker and in business…
Luck Factor Defined by Science
Neurologist Dr James Austin identified four different types of luck which when you understand them does give a little insight into how to make it more likely to be around when the lucky duck, enters the room.
The 4 main types of luck identified by Dr. Austin include :
- Blind Luck
- Luck which is influenced by persistence
- Observer Luck
- Fortune that finds you
As you can see, there are 4 types of luck and only 3 scientifically proven ways to improve your luck in poker. This is because blind luck in poker, as in life, is something you cannot control. Hitting a Jackpot or bad luck like losing your internet connection, while playing online poker – is not something you can change.
So, lets focus on how we can improve our luck in poker
Luck in Poker and How to Improve it
The basic idea behind poker is that it’s a skillful game of chance. In this game, a player who lacks competence and can only succeed via luck is referred to as a fish. However, is it possible to control luck? The quick response is, of course not, no. You can surely not control the outcome of a card’s randomness, but you can position yourself so that you have a better chance of being fortunate than you have right now.
In short, although you have no influence over the cards, once you are aware of the many sorts of luck, you can take steps to increase your chances of being fortunate.
Let’s dive in the three main luck categories, which we can influence to a degree and more importantly – see how we can do that.
Persistence Luck in Poker
Just few lines above, we mention you not being able to control hitting jackpots or winning other randomly generated bonuses. Well, this is mostly true – but there is a way to improve your chances.
Let’s imagine you played 15 Freeroll tournaments in 2022 and in 2023, you already have played 50. Yet in 2022, you won the first places two times and in 2023, you never reached final table. The first question is -during which year, you were luckier ? Of course, the correct answer is 2022.
But the more important question is – Which year, you were supposed to win more freerolls ? The answer is clearly 2023, as you entered more tournaments.
Having a good luck in poker, is often down to being persistent. Notice how, rookie players always have many bad beat stories. Experienced veterans, know that these misfortunes happen and do not dwell on it. These kind of players, were persistent enough to play a lot more poker and see much more of the game, to be focusing on few unlucky or incredibly lucky hands.
Imagine you participate in free prize drawings. If you enter one and win, you are really lucky; if you enter 100 of them weekly and win a few, it was still chance, but your perseverance increased the likelihood of winning significantly. You increase your chances of luck compared to someone who doesn’t participate any competitions.
In essence, persistence luck in poker is trying to be in the right place, at the right time and leave the universe (poker gods) do its magic. Participate in more tournaments, fight for every last chip, do not lose your cool, never go into downward spiral of negativity and tilt. Do all of these and sooner or later, you will reap the benefits of your persistence.
Observer Luck in Poker
This one is not only the easiest type of luck in poker you can control, but also the one we can help you master.
This is the kind of luck where a good player can recognize the chance to get lucky more accurately than the average one. Early Bitcoin holders, would argue that they had this kind of luck; they had no control over the price, but they might have recognized a use for it, that others did not. It still appears to outsiders to be blind luck.
The crypto analogy is the perfect example, when comparing observer luck in poker and in life. There are some crypto investors, who bought early on a whim or without any thought process, just took a chance. But there are those, who studied the market and tried to predict, what is more likely to happen in the future. They observed the situation and made an educated gamble.
Observer luck in poker manifests itself by choosing a table to play on. There are those, who land on some extremely profitable games by chance. But most of the players who get “lucky” with game selection , are those who observe the games, bumhunt bad players and carefully select the online poker room they join.
After all, in poker you don’t have to be the best player in the world, to be profitable. You only have to be better than the people on your table. Sit on good tables – win more.
This is why playing on poker apps, is so popular nowadays. You contact your agent, he finds you good poker club and you can start observing the action like a predator and join the games, once you find a prey.
Another example of observed luck in poker, would be your game selection. If you had a policy of only playing tournaments with big guarantees then occasionally you have a chance of having a big score in an overlaid tournament without having to navigate through a massive field.
Fortune that finds you Luck in Poker
This type of luck can easily be confused with the persistence luck factor. There are some vague similarities, but in essence, this luck category is widely different.
As the name suggests, this is type of luck, in which the fortune finds you, because of your unique abilities and talents. Businessman like Donald Trump and Andrew Tate , have a wide variety of skills and knowledge in different fields, that they can easily rebuild their empire, if you take away everything from them.
This fortune luck in poker can be seen with players like Brad Owen, Doug Polk and many others, who are solid players, but their main advantage over the majority poker pros – is that they have a side job, which perfectly complements their poker playing career.
Of course, not everyone can be a popular youtube superstar, but there are ton of ways to implement the fortune that finds you luck in poker. The only thing you need to do is, involve yourself deeply in the poker world and its trends.
A lot of online grinders are currently seeing success as a result of their efforts to be entertaining and produce content for Twitch and YouTube in the form of endorsement deals. Others start successful blogs or resell coaching courses for a prize.
Even those players, who can not afford to climb up the stakes that fast, but show incredible results – can be staked by backers to play in much higher stakes and in the end – profit much more from poker.
Another example of this type of luck in poker, are our players who have become poker agents, on top of their regular grinding. This way they started earning passive income, without lifting a finger and still being able to focus 100% on poker and finding good games (observer luck). This is also the time to mention, we greatly assist with finding the softest possible poker games and even provide updates in our Telegram News Channel about it.
This way the majority of the observer luck is directly handed to you by us, as we specialize in finding the softest poker games online.
Finishing Words
As you can see, there are many ways to improve your chances in succeeding in poker. Poker is a skill game, which involves luck. Instead of wishing there was no luck involved in the game, just embrace it. After all, many fishes are still around the poker rooms and casinos, exactly because they get lucky once in a while.
Poker without luck would not be so exciting. After all, the game is called poker and not chess. So start trying to avoid bad luck – instead start mastering the luck factor in poker. There are 4 main types of luck according to science, 3 types of luck, you can control to an extent in poker and 2 types of luck we can greatly help you with, as you can see above.
So put yourself in the fortune way, be persistent, be observant and let’s mention 2023 as one of the luckiest years of our lives.
