Bad Luck, Cheating and Fish

I suspect nearly everyone here has heard the line "If you can't spot the sucker, then the sucker is you." It makes an elementary point that goes beyond determining the relative strengths of players at the table; that fish are best characterized not by how they play, but by the skills they lack.

But the ability to categorize players isn't the only skill lacking in fish. Perhaps the most important skill that is lacking in almost anyone you could call a fish is a basic understanding of the relative importance of luck and skill, and how probability works. To put this more elequently,

If you think that luck has been the primary determining factor in your results, especially your losses, then you are a fish.

That doesn't mean that you won't have misfortune, in fact you definately will if you play poker. But if you believe that bad luck is the determining factor in your long term results, then you are a fish.

I bring this up because there are so many players here that want to blame external factors for their bad results. The bad news is that if you think this way, you are probably not as good a player as you give yoruself credit for. The good news is that your view of poker is wrong, and that you can be in control of your own destiny; though you will first need to change your whole perception of the game.

I am sure the people who most need to grasp this completely disagree with me at this point, at least with regards to themselves. So let me put it another way. Over time everybody gets some good cards and a lot of bad cards, some that are unbelievably bad. The players who are able to succeed aren't those who get the best cards, they are the ones who best take advantage of their good cards, and are best able to avoid losing with their bads ones (either through good folds, or good bluffs).

If you choose to blame luck for your loses then you are giving your power away. For some people it might feel better to not have to blame themselves when they lose, but by not examining a loss for how you might have played it better, you are refusing to better your play and dooming yourself to that situation again. If you have "the worst luck" as some people claim, it almost certainly is because you put yourself in situations that allow you to be victimized by bad cards.

Ditto for blaming the site. You know how stupid players at brick and mortar casino sound who blame the dealers for their bad luck? Blaming the online site is no different. There are certainly crooked people in and around poker, its the nature of so much money being there for the taking. But if you think the game you are in is bad, or the players may be cheating you, then leave. But when you join the chorus of those who feel that all online poker is rigged you are giving your power away. If you really feel that way, then don't play. But if you do decide to play, rather than use the supposed rigging as an excuse to not examine your play you should try to figure out what you could be doing differently. I have met more than a few that will use their live results to prove that online must be rigged; here's a news flash - they're different games. You need a totally different style of play to be successful online, and every moment you spend screaming "its rigged" is a moment you could have been figuring out what needs to change in your game to make you successful online.

So if you really care about poker and want to be better at it, you always need to be looking to yourself first when you lose. Yes there will be some situations that are unavoidable or beyond your control, but when after carefully ruling out any other action you could have taken you are left with nothing but external factors left to blame, then you should feel peace not rage; after all you know that you are playing correctly and that over time you will show a profit.