On Running Good

It's said that Poker isn't a card game -- it's a betting game. The cards are simply instruments to determine a winner if someone is dumb enough to stick around. Knowing this, one should be able to toss variance out the window. If you can successfully bet, then the cards don't matter.

And yet, we all go through rough streaks where we catch nothing, get called by donkeys who DO catch something, and we just can't seem to get a break. Then all of a sudden, we're "running good". Read any "I had a great weekend" post and you'll see lines like "I caught great cards." or "My draws filled in." or "The fish were swimming." Usually there is a gem like "I managed the pots so my losses were minimized." or "I stole and re-stole my way to victory." The last two should be the ones with most emphasis, because they are immune to variance. This is seldom the case.

Yes, running lucky is key to making big money. It's really hard to win BIG pots without catching SOMETHING. Rare is it that you can build a big pot and take it down with ace-high. However, we all like to pretend like we're poker masters who know all about pot odds, reads, tells, steals, re-steals, math, and how to bet like you've got the nuts. If this is the case, why do we keep seeing, "I caught great cards for once."?

Just a thought.

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I might make the MATH tonight. I might not. Playing live, so we'll see how that goes.

Played poker only last night, and it was a wash. Lost a couple level 1 peeps, took 2nd in a $10 SnG after a lengthy back-and-forth heads-up battle.

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There's that adage about being lucky in cards. I fucking HATE getting so many pocket aces.