Unlucky Me

I came 3rd in the raisetheriver league game and won about $80 at Laddies later to take my laddies roll over the $2k mark.( $2004!).Full stats tomorrow.

I've had this post saved as a draft for a while and now seems a good time to GIP....


“My new novel, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, takes its name from a coinage of the magician and sceptic James Randi to describe people who, no matter how much proof you try to submerge them in, always bob back up again with a new reason to keep believing”

The above is a quote from my favourite author Christopher Brookmyre and reminded me of the people who believe that online poker is rigged or fixed in some way.

I've never ever believed that kind of nonsense, although at times there's no doubt that at times I've considered myself cursed as the unluckiest poker player on the planet ever!

I have a reasonable sng record but I've also had several runs of 13-14 games where I've not made the money and when on those runs I've felt like I could almost predict the two outer the villain was going to hit to knock me out.At cash tables this could mean buy-in after buy-in down the drain.

When the beats come thick and fast and every folded hand turns out to be a monster I've half jokingly wanted to kill the virtual dealer who has picked on little old me and decided to make my poker life a misery.Why me? Why always me? Can I not just get one damn hand to hold up?!

I'm no expert on luck and probablity and although it's easy to point to the much vaunted "long run" when it's all supposed to even out ,it often feels like my "long run" would need to be a thousand years to cover all the beats I've taken.

Reading other blogs,forums and three years of online play has made me realise that decent players suffer bad beats all the time and that the old adage of suffering more of them when you get your money in with the best of it all the time is very true.

Poker is always going to be a 3 steps forward ,two back kind of pursuit.Sometimes it may be 10-15 steps back and it seems impossible to believe there isn't some other force at work.

I suppose the luck factor is the main reason behind poker being such a damn tough game.It's probably ( along with lack of skill) the main factor preventing me moving up and giving $200nl,$400nl etc more of a shot.My experience means I know I could move up,get my Aces in v 63off preflop ( not the hammer because it's a monster!)five times in a row and lose every single one though no fault of my own.I find that thought a little scary!

To sum up, I'd say that if you feel you are the unluckiest poker player ever, then whilst it may be true, it's unlikely, and remember that the "I'm the unluckiest player ever" club has a large membership and an even bigger waiting list...