Free Texas Holdem Guide to Beating Bad Luck
One of the most persistent discussions in poker is about the role of luck in success, there are those who believe poker is mostly luck and those who think skill is the main factor, today lets lay this one to rest! I have personally been a money and free texas holdem poker player for some 7 years, I have made some nice cash at times but I have also busted several bankrolls.As such think I can say I’ve got a pretty good understanding of the situation!
For starters lets define what skill is in the poker context. In my opinion a skilled player is one who can recognize betting patterns, understand flop odds, and percentages, and have a solid concept of strategy and theory. I have noticed however, not matter how well skilled one may be, you must account for variance, and sometimes aggressive, even poor play from others.
I believe in conclusion it is best to assume that poker is a combination of both skill and luck where the skill level of the player involved has a definite effect on the “luck” component of the equation in the medium and long term.
The assumption would be based on this conclusion that you have to be both pre flop aggressive, as well as post flop smart. Many times a player might find themselves in a position where they made the proper call, yet they find themselves behind due in part to an opponents luck hitting a one or two outer.
It is very difficult to try and overcome such a situation. This can, in part, be blamed on the speed of online poker hand as opposed to the live game. The action of online poker is much faster, and decisions must come much quicker.
A lot of people find they get more bad beats in online poker than in live games. Mathematically this can be attributed to the number of hands both seen, and played. In addition there is a fatigue factor involved where players feel they are being pushed too hard, or perhaps have suffered a bad beat.
Subsequently decision making can become irrational, and typical hands that would be thrown away are now played, and even pushed pre flop out of anger in looking to win back lost funds.
Others, who are skilled can pick up on such trends and play them to their advantage, which often results in greater loss, and in the eyes of the losing player, more bad beats which he feels was based on luck.
The successful (skilful) poker player knows how to manage both aspects of the game. In effect you become able to manage probability (luck) by application of skill and so apply the old phrase beloved of annoying sales managers/gurus everywhere, “make your own luck”. Basically meaning that your skill flattens out the “bad luck” to the extent that you will be up consistently in the medium and longer term.
But how can you go about doing this? Learn your skill on free texas holdem sites, get skill, get confident, build a bankroll and then you can move up into micro and low stakes money games and beyond.
