Good Player/ Lucky Player

[CaliNaughti]

The other day a fellow poker player went on to tell me that he was a Good player but also a Unlucky player at the same time. This really confused me because I couldnt understand how he can be Good and Unlucky at the same time.

He went on to tell me that he starts out with a great hand such as AK and will catch the A on the flop and procede to make his big raises and someone with A3 will be playing and calling all his raises till they end up rivering a 3..he calls these people Bad players who are also Lucky players.

Was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this?

[Holdem Freak]

I agree with that immensely. There 2 completely different players out there. But if he was truly a good player he would have laid that A down with the odds of someone holding a set, 2 pair, etc. which in turn makes him look like the bad player from the other persons eyes.

[Raise, Ha!]

I always refer back to one piece of advice I was given very early on when I was 1st beginning holdem play. AA is a 100% winner every time.......pre flop. Where things get ugly is post flop. With the flop, callers can posess hands with greater value immediately and as the turn and river cards are revealed the odds of AA winning decrease even further. The key then becomes determining what amount of chips bet pre flop will soften the chasers up to make them reconsider. Re-raising is THE most effective method. Should they persist, Raising (or re-raising) as early in the hand as possible is your best option. The more cards seen allows for the opponent to accumulate a hand stronger than AA as well.
Never-the-less, there are some players just too stupid to fold. I often fall into this catagory myself if I find myself in one of two circumstances. If I'm highly invested in a pot with "a piece" of the flop where folding would cripple me or.....if I have a 5x,6x,7x chip stack over my opponent which allows me to "chase" and losing doesn't create a dire situation. My 2 cents.

[raymac]

Mark:

It seems to me that a player who will call down large raises with a weak A as in the example you decsribe, is probably not a generally successful player.....lucky then, yes; but over time bad plays fail. If he played against the same opponent for a fairly long term, solid play would win out. Luck shifts around the table, but skill stays with the skillful player. (imo)

[PokerRef]

Even the most skillfull of players,will at some point, also get lucky in a hand. Its just a fact of life when playing poker. However I'm convinced that some players will be persieved as more lucky than others.

These players are the kind that are usually a semi or loose pre-flop. They are almost always behind in the hand from the get go vs a tight/solid player, but willing to call that 3x-5x BB pre-flop raise, and hit the flop, or call your pot size continuation bet on the flop with a gut shot draw. Its a game of 5 cards, and unless you hold the nuts after that fifth card is showing, you ar at risk of losing. Its very frustrating and all I can say is know your opponent.

Thats why I like to play in a Forum tourney. You get to play against more players on a regular basis and learn what thier playing tendencies are. You know the players that chase, so try and keep the pots low. You know the solid players to avoid playing in pots with unless you hold a very strong hand, and you know the bluffers who you can trap and double-up with rather easily.

[Sick Fish]

A lot of players think they're unlucky. The thing is they don't stop and remember all the times they've gotten lucky. I try to remember hands that I play poorly and end up getting lucky so when someone sucks out on me or calls a big raise pre flop with garbage and flops a monster, it doesn't bother as much.

Just my 2 cents. ;)

[Yoda]

In my experience,,,there is no such thing as luck....JUST THE FORCE!!.


Yoda