X-Terminators Poker Crew

I had a discussion with Josh ?AKA Sniper? after a very disappointing night of poker for him.  He brought up how dissatisfying poker can be when you are playing your best poker and luck interferes with your results.  This dissatisfaction came after playing in a game with a fair amount of less superior players.  If you are a student of this game then I can say with great certainty that this has happened to you.  It has happened to me on several occasions and I imagine it will continue to happen as long as I play this game.  No mater how good a player you are or how good a read you have on an opponent you have no control of the cards to come.  If you continue to play at the high level and allow your game to improve and evolve, you will be successful in the long run.     

I have to say that I some what agree with Sniper....You have to get extremely lucky to win any tournament at just about any level.  I have been feeling the same way lately. You grind and grind and grind and play the best poker all session or tournament long, only to have a player with lesser ability make a crazy call or decision against you.  This is poker and we have to learn how to deal with it if we want to succeed at a higher level one day. 

There was a great article about this subject in one of back issues of card player magazine. The main topic of this article revolved around how the best players don?t always win or cash in tournaments.  Regardless if you play in the casino, online, or in your favorite home game luck is going to play a huge factor in your results.         

The Card Player Magazine article explained the luck factor in great detail involving casino tournament poker. You have to come to expect that in tournament poker there are going to be novices, intermediate players, advanced players and expert (pro) players all playing together.  Where else are you going to mix pro?s with amateurs.  Remember (I am guilty of this more then most people) that players who are either new to this game or are playing strictly for recreation and are not thinking five steps ahead, and you can not expect them to.  All you can do is make the best decisions and hope that it holds up, and go on to the next hand.     

 If you have seen your play improve, but your results are lacking what you have come to expect, remember the large amount of luck involved in tournament poker.  Luck is always going to be a huge part of this game (70%) but as your skill improves you will come out the winner in the long run. 

Like I explained to a friend the other day who had been disapointed in his amount of bad luck he had been having at the tables;  Bad luck or good luck, we all have the same amount, sometimes we just focus on the bad and forget about all the times good luck had graced us. I have also been guilty of this, and I am sure I will be guilty of this again. It is much easier to focus on all the bad beats, bad luck, drawn out rivers or anything negative in this game.  But like the Great Machine of Poker said "You will never be great at this game, until you realize that everything comes back around if you are truly skillful at this game.?  If you can not handle the downswings of this game, then when will you ever notice when the upswings come your way...

Good luck to all.......Play Good, Play Smart and Have Fun.

Paul ?The Machine? Valencia