A silly post about LUCK...

[stickman]

I never used to believe in luck......until recently. I play in a very good 5-10 Stud 8 or better game. There are 9 players (rotating deal, dealer sits out)4 are good ( including myself) the other 5 are pure gamblers. We have been playing once a week for 5 years straight.
Within the last few months, lets say 6, I have been getting nothing but piss poor starting cards. Hands like J, A,5 or 9,10,4 etc. I fold like I am supposed to, and continue to watch the sheep get fleeced by the other 3 good players.
I guess what I am asking is, what do you guys/girls do to change your luck periodically? I am willing to try anything short of sacrificing a virgin. one of the better players in the game tells me that it only seems that I get an inordinate amount of 9,10,j etc as starters.I have been keeping track and know this not to be true. Help please, I need this 100 pound gorilla off of my back. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[Al Schoonmaker]

You asked how you could change your luck, and specifically stated: " I am willing to try anything short of sacrificing a virgin."

How can we help you if you put such onerous restrictions on us?

Some people say that sacrificing live goats works, but I doubt it.

Let's get serious. I am sure that there is NOTHING you can do to change your luck.

You wrote that yours is a "silly post," and I wholeheartedly agree. A random variable is a random variable, no matter what you do. Don't even think about changing decks, wearing a lucky hat, sitting a different way, arriving early or late, and, of course, sacrificing a virgin.

The ONLY thing you can control is the way you play your cards. Leave all the attempts to change luck to the fools.

By chance, my next CP article directly addresses this subject. It was originally titled "ESP=BS," but we changed it to "ESP is nonsense" because "BS" is offensive to some people.

But there is no doubt at all that ALL attempts to change your luck are pure, unadulterated BS.

Regards,

Al

[Warren Whitmore]

Some people were lucky enough to be born smart and some people werent. A random event has never taken place. Everything happens because of everything else that has happened. The only reason you are not a rattlesnake is because your parents are not rattlesnakes. From the point of your birth your environment has shaped you into who you are and where you are you could not be any one or anywhere else than who you are and where you are. Just as certainly you have no freedom of choice or action regarding the future. Your genes and environment control your very being not the other way around. OK thats enough of that:
1)Copy all of Ray Zees questions on one side of a 3X5 card on the other the answers.
2)Before each and every session go through them all and do not start to play until you get through 80% correctly.
3)The next session go for 81%
4)Continue this until you reach 100%.
5)Move to 15:30 on the internet and play to make about $30 per hour (your average opponant could only get about 40% on your index cards)

[D. Andrew]

Some people were lucky enough to be born smart...

Some people were even smarter to have been born lucky

[olemissgolf]

"Let's get serious. I am sure that there is NOTHING you can do to change your luck."

"But there is no doubt at all that ALL attempts to change your luck are pure, unadulterated BS."

Regards,

Al
---------

With all due respect, I, as unqualified as I am, disagree!
You must change your belief, however possible, into a belief that, "I am a very lucky person." If you can do this, you will begin taking notice all the times you are lucky. You will be in a more positive frame of mind, which will allow you to think better, and act better.
If you can focus on the times you are fortunate, and begin to believe that you are truly blessed with good luck, it can be life-altering. Beliefs are a more powerful thing to a person than facts, so you gotta believe!

[Net Warrior]

There are periods when you get average starting cards, periods when you get better than average cards, and periods when you get worse than average cards, etc. Their duration could be long, short, or average, etc. too. The good and average periods are fun and a joy to play. The below average periods are the pits. I tighten up during these periods even more than my usual tight style. In addition I play longer and more frequent sessions in order to "play through" them. It may sound strange but it works for me. ( [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I hope I haven't just jinxed myself [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] )

[Al_Capone_Junior]

Changing your luck is, as Al said, pure fallacy and a worthless waste of time. Just change your game to adjust to the conditions of the game you are in, and quit bitching about luck, which is purely luck, and not skill and or/controllable.

You do NOT get an inordinate amount of any given starting hand, no matter what your prior observations up to this point have been.

[rusty JEDI]

You do NOT get an inordinate amount of any given starting hand, no matter what your prior observations up to this point have been.

I understand that all people over time totaled together will give this averaging.

But

Isnt it possible that I might be the walking talking human variance. And somewhere out there is my polar opposite human variance that brings it all back to average.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

those type of observations are good for star trek and quantum mechanics, but they don't hold water in the real world. No one gets an inordinate amount of good or bad luck in cards over a statistically significant # of hours of play.

[Robk]

"Don't even think about changing decks, wearing a lucky hat, sitting a different way, arriving
early or late, and, of course, sacrificing a virgin."

I must respectfully disagree. I played 7cs8 for 3 years was never rolled up once. But since I
started wearing my lucky hat I find that I am rolled up almost every hour, or at least get
dealt an A23 suited. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]