Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

And that question doesn't just relate to poker, but we'll start with poker.

Here's an example of the kind of bad luck I seem to have, typically in large pots when I get it all in as the favorite. I'm playing 2/2 live NL (the last hand of live poker I played which was on 10/13) and am dealt AA UTG+1. UTG folds, I raise to $20 (standard raise for that table). I get three callers, then another guy goes all-in for $40 total. I'm thinking "Great, just enough for a raise, now I can push and isolate." Then another short stack goes all-in over the top for a total of $53. Now I can't reraise because the betting is capped, so I'm forced to call. The next player hems and haws and calls claiming he knows he has 2 outs only. The other players fold. I have like $60-ish left and shove in the dark. As he's hemming and hawing, I look down at the flop of J-2-6r. He finally calls again saying he knows he only has 2 outs.

Turn and river are both 5's and I hear the lady who shoved over the top capping the betting saying she has a straight. What? I thought she was kidding but she turns over 43o. Guy who called me all-in apologizes to me and shows pocket fives.

Another instance is when I have ATo. Several people limp, I limp, guy on button raises to $12. Bunch of callers, I call to close the action.

Flop is K-Q-Jr. Everyone (including me) check to the button who bets $75. I have about $300 total, pot has around $75 in it so he potted it. Folds around to me, I shove. He hems and haws and calls with KJo. Turn brick, river J. Another huge pot I lose.

Another hand was when I had KK in the blind and there was a small raise preflop and several callers. I shove for another $200, I have everyone covered. Preflop raiser calls for about $60. One guy who just sat down debates it and says "lets gamble" and calls for $90. Everyone else folds.

Board comes out 2-3-5-J-A. Original preflop raiser shows TT no good. Gambling idiot shows 84s.

Another less interesting one was getting all-in preflop with QQ vs AK for $100 each. Queen in the door, yet a T also on flop, river J gives him the nuts. There are a few more hands in which I get the money in as a huge favorite and lose, but they are all pretty much the same so you get the idea.

I don't mean to make this post a big bad beat story but this is the kind of thing that happens to me CONSTANTLY in big pots. I deposit a little change into Stars and my luck runs bad there too. I won't bother to post specific hands but there have been several 2nd nut flush vs nut flush and my AJ vs his K2 on a A-7-7 board and I lose to running kings and another A-x vs K-x on a A-x-x board to running kings.

***(tennis terms upcoming***) Last night I was playing tennis and my partner and I were up 5-1 on our opponents in a practice match. They then went on to hit line after line, serves off the line, lobs off the line, half-volleys perfectly placed and/or lobbed perfectly over our heads, blind stab volleys for winners, mis-hits dropping in all over the place, hits off the top of the net dropping on our side for winners while my shots hit the top of the net and stay on my side. I mean, you name it, they hit it and they didn't miss once. We lost 7-5, 6-1, barely breaking the streak by winning a game down 5-0.

I really hate making this post because I know it seems like just a whiny bad beat post and I really feel gay writing it but I am just now feeling like everything is going against me. Every time I play poker I think "in what way am I going to lose this time?" I stopped playing live for the time being because no matter what I do, I lose. If I play super tight, I lose. If I play loose-passive, I lose. If I play loose-aggressive, I lose. Nothing I do works, everything I do fails. I've passed the phase of being pissed off at it all and now I'm just kind of in a daze, as if its no surprise that when it happens. I keep thinking things like "it can't possibly get worse, can it?" and yet it seems to just keep getting worse and worse and I don't know what to do. I really love playing poker but it just seems hopeless. And yes I'm aware my sample size is small. I kept stats of my live play and over the last 52 hours of play (maybe call it 1500 hands or so) I've had 11 negative sessions (14 sessions total) totaling -$900. I know I'm not a GREAT player but I'm not a total tard out there and to be on a 9 buy-in downswing in a game that a monkey could beat just flat out embarrasses me.

I should also mention I have two buddies that play and we generally play in the same game. We all play fairly similar games although I'm probably the loosest of the group. They suffer a few beats here and there but overall they have nowhere near my level of bad luck and are typically winners in this game we play in.

Just for fun I will include this tidbit since I just scanned that lottery thread: I occasionally play the lottery for maybe 5 $1 tickets at a time. Usually I don't play unless the jackpot is over $30m which, here in Florida, doesn't happen often. I would guess that over the course of my life I've spent around $300-400 bucks on lottery. I have won money exactly 1 time when I matched 3 out of 6 and won $4.50 on a $5 ticket. I know overall this is pretty meaningless but it's just funny to me for some reason.

So basically I am looking for opinions on whether or not its feasible to just be unlucky in general. Again, I realize my sample size is small and yes this does feel like a bad beat "please comfort me" post but I'm trying not to make it seem that way. I'm just at a loss as to what I can do to turn things around and need some serious responses.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

in my opinion its certainly possible to "run bad" for extended amounts of time in poker, in life, etc. you could be the .001% of people at the bottom of the spectrum.

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And yes I'm aware my sample size is small.

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if you were...you probably would have a better outlook than the one you have:


[ QUOTE ]
I really hate making this post because I know it seems like just a whiny bad beat post and I really feel gay writing it but I am just now feeling like everything is going against me. Every time I play poker I think "in what way am I going to lose this time?" I stopped playing live for the time being because no matter what I do, I lose. If I play super tight, I lose. If I play loose-passive, I lose. If I play loose-aggressive, I lose. Nothing I do works, everything I do fails. I've passed the phase of being pissed off at it all and now I'm just kind of in a daze, as if its no surprise that when it happens. I keep thinking things like "it can't possibly get worse, can it?" and yet it seems to just keep getting worse and worse and I don't know what to do.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can almost guarantee this is effecting your play in a bad way.



obviously you know this, but you cannot change your luck. just keep playing correctly and things should turn themselves around, assuming you're a winning player.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Let me start by saying I believe in infinity. Yes infinity is a fact but so many people do not believe it. So, using poker as the example, if you played an infinite number of games then every scenario would occur. At some stage you would lose 1million coinflips in a row. Yes, the odds are indescribable but it has to happen in infinity.

Now, if you happen to be born at the time this unbelievable occurrence is to happen you will be unlucky. No question. If you could live to infinity luck would even out. Yes, some people can be unlucky. However, don’t hide behind bad luck because 99.99% of the time it is poor judgement.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

at the end of your life it could be said you were unlucky, ie ran less than your expected allin equity, but you could be unlucky for 20 years and it would have no bearing on how likely you are to be lucky the next day.
Luck does not exist as a tangible quality

Just FYI, there is no Santa Claus or Heaven either.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Just FYI, there is no Santa Claus

[/ QUOTE ]

WHAT????????? Who is that fat guy in the red suit I see in the supermarket every year?

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

You are not unlucky, you just haven't played enough games yet.

I know that sounds harsh, and it's not a digg, but there are a lot of combinations of cards in poker, and as such it's possible to keep hitting bad hands or beats.

However, over 100K hands plus, it will even out and you won't see as many things going your way as against.

why? Because you are only betting large when you have the best of it (I hope)

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
You are not unlucky, you just haven't played enough games yet.

I know that sounds harsh, and it's not a digg, but there are a lot of combinations of cards in poker, and as such it's possible to keep hitting bad hands or beats.

However, over 100K hands plus, it will even out and you won't see as many things going your way as against.

why? Because you are only betting large when you have the best of it (I hope)

[/ QUOTE ]

I know this answer (and the others) are right and I'm just an idiot but I'm struggling to mentally overcome it. I'm sure is affecting my play, although how many times can I continue to get it all-in as a huge favorite and lose? It's either that or I flop the 2nd nuts and someone flopped the nuts. That's usually the only time I get it in bad is when I flop a big hand and someone has flopped a bigger one. It's extremely frustrating and it's been going on continuously for about a year now.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

it is possible, but ver unlikely.

it is more likely in real life than poker

ie - it would be most unlucky if you got run over tomorrow and died, that would make you an unlucky person imo.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

thanks, guess I'll be staying in tomorrow. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Anything is possible. But, it is improbable.

The worst thing you can do is change your style based on your perception of luck.

What kind of bad luck?

1. Run of bad starting hands? That happens

2. Always in with best hand and get beaten (hold'em)? If you keep track on paper, you may find you suck out as often as get beat.

3. Other guy always has better cards? Could be a skill issue here.

Personally, I think the cards run even in the long run, but short and long runs of "luck/no-luck" happen. Each hand is a new hand, and past history has no bearing. You can say you have had a bad run, but not that it will or won't continue. In all probability, it won't continue, be it good or bad.

Again, don't change your style based on your perception or anticipation of bad luck. You will just thrash and never get it together. Persevere.

Let's Face it though, you could just be a terrible player. That's much more likely than you were born unlucky. And, at least the former is fixable through hard work and study.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Didn't read your post, but in short, no. Certainly, a person can get the short end of the variance stick, but inherently unlucky? No.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

I feel like im in the exact same situation as you regarding poker. I constantly build up my stack at the tables winning small/meduim pots where there is actual "poker" played, then get kings or aces and get all my money in against idiots on the flop or turn as an 80%+ favourite and lose. I make sure I analyse any big pots I play and the huge majority of the time I am a huge favourite when I play a big pot.

I know this is just variance. I know it must change. In the meantime, all I can do is strive to maintain a healthy outlook, not let it affect my life outside poker, maintain a realistic overview of my play, good and bad, realise that I can still learn and improve and continue to dedicate myself to that.

I dont see there is any other choice. All I know is that if I can stick to the above, when variance decides to be kinder to me, Ill be better positioned to be take advantage.

hope things turn around for you soon...

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

I felt I had a similar thing so I recorded in a spreadsheet, on a monthly basis, every single hand where the pot was >80% of a buyin and I poker stoved every hand exactly to get an exact equity.

The most important thing I found was that I waaaayyy over estimating my average equity in the pots where I was all in. Across the lot, I was hitting 60% on a good month ranging down to about 48%.

The exercise also began a good habit of continual detailed review of hands from a number crunching perspective even though luck owes me about 12 buyins at present, my $$$/hr has shot up due to noticing and fixing leaks.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Hey Russ, I skimmed your post and read the last paragraph, but I can promise you as far as poker goes, in the long run there is absolutely zero luck in this game. I used to feel like I couldn't catch enough cards to be a big winner, but after a while of this I just decided I had to somehow figure out what the big winners in my games were doing that I wasn't doing, and it did the trick.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Don't think you are unlucky, good luck and bad luck evens out in the long run.

Sounds more like a garden variety loser.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

OP, did you put this in the psychology section because you were wondering if somehow your subconscious is putting you in these unlucky situations (or situations where you have a better than average chance of being unlucky)?

I think this affects all sorts of people. It is better to not go through life being depressed and a victim of bad luck. Life is too short and it is simply not worth it. Find out about how to make +ev decisions not just at cards but in all of your actions and you will start running good. The people that do the best aren't always the best they just put themselves in the most situations where they have a chance to succeed. If you play cards this way you will win in the end and your luck will certainly improve (or at least seem to).

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Just FYI, there is no Santa Claus

[/ QUOTE ]

WHAT????????? Who is that fat guy in the red suit I see in the supermarket every year?

[/ QUOTE ]
A child molester in disguise.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

op,

gambler's fallacy

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

If the girl in the pic is your girlfriend then you're not unlucky, she has a nice face and huge boobies.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

being born in a first world country means you are extremely lucky to begin with, to be an unlucky person, id say you would be born in iraq, then get bombed and having missing limbs while getting the aids, thats unlucky. your likely just bad at poker

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Ehhh, is that your girlfriend on your avatar??

13 year old african children-soildiers are born unlucky. Christopher Reeve got unlucky. You lost some money in spots where you were 80% favourite.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

I have already decided im unlucky at life (and recently) in cards.

Let me start out by telling you how my last session went. It seemed like it was cooler after cooler for a while. This was in $3/$6 limit (very juicy game at my casino). Solid regular raises, I picked a seat to her immediate left and call with 99. Flop is J93, 2 bets on the flop. Turn is a jack, we cap it. River is a 3 which i basically say "i got counterfeited but heres a donation". No counterfeit sir, JJ is good.

A few hands later there are several ppl in including same person, I call with Qh9h. Flop a flush (j high on the board). BB bets, she raises, i re-raise, we cap it. Turn is a offsuit ace, BB bets, she raises and i can already sense another cooler. We both call. River is a King of hearts, BB checks, she bets I call, BB folds showing 74 of hearts. Lady shows me A5 of hearts and of course coolered me again.

Few hands later i call with 55 pf and see a flop of 543. Put a few bets in on the flop. Turn is an 8, i check-raise and all call. River is anohter 8, someone leads out, the two of us cap it. 88 good sir. It was just crap like this over and over again. Feel the pain yet?

Now, as far as unlucky in life goes. I have gotten parking tickets for being parked slightly further away from the curb then you should (and i really do mean slightly).

I've gotten parking tickets for occupying less than 1 foot of a yellow marked area.

I've gotten a parking ticket for a safety infraction for blocking a fire hydrant when there wasnt even a fire hydrant on the block!

For the first time ever last night in a VERY long time, I didnt wear my seatbelt making the 1 mile drive to the grocery store. I havent seen a cop in weeks when driving around town. Obviously I do the only time in years I dont wear a seatbelt. GG me.

The last set of roommates I had both stole from me.

My internet crapped out the day before a research paper was due (obviously I hadnt started it yet). Lets just say it didnt come back up till the next day and I had to drive over to a friends to complete it.

You getting the general idea? This is what unlucky at life means. And this is just a small selection of the many "very unlucky things" that have happened to me. Im convinced some people can be unlucky at life.

Edit: In my last session, I was up almost $250 at one point before the sick setups started happening over and over. I left almost dead even after this sickening streak of bad variance.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

I understand how this can seem, but I wouldnt say that because you got a load of parking tickets and your internet went that you are "unlucky in life". And to the other poster, I was only discussing being "unlucky" in poker.

As I mentioned in my last post, a bad run at cards should always be kept in perspective. Perspective can be one of the first things to warp during a bad spell, and its crucial to not let this affect your life outside poker. If you let poker start a vicious cycle of you feeling unlucky, your play will be affected and you will feel unlucky when even the most mundane things happen.

Perspective is the key...

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?

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No, it doesn`t rain every day.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

I read all the posts so far, and I feel like I've been unlucky to this point, but things can turn around at any time.

What I hate is how people who have no clue or are just gambling it up seem to be winning and doing a lot better than me. For example, my uncle hit for $6k on a slot machine, then went to roulette and was hitting his 13 or 00 or whatever.

2 weeks ago I drive to get some food and the power is out at McDonalds. WTF?

I'm a Pittsburgh Pirates fan.

I mean everyone has bad or unlucky things that happen but sometimes I do feel like I'm destined to lose.

As far as poker, typical session is I get KK, raise and take down the blinds. Then I raise with KK a few orbits later, someone reraises I push for like 75bb and he has AA. I've missed so many straight+flush draws it's sick. 77 vs AKs, flop a RFD with overs, and miss it. In MTT or SNGs, I get it all in 3 way with 99 vs AK vs AQ and the AQ wins.

When I get 2 pair, I'm always getting counterfitted, or everyone folds to a small bet, or they have a set.

Last week I had TJo in the BB, 7 way action, flop comes 789 rainbow, I check trying to make a nice c/r, checks around, turn T so now I split with any J and lose to QJ, but I put out a 1/2 pot size bet, one caller, river 8, I bet $20 he raises to $40 and I sigh and call, shows T8o for a boat. It just makes me mad that if he would have played his hand fast on the flop (pair+open ender), then I would have gotten in my stack with huge equity. I'm just getting sick of donks slowplaying a flopped flush or set and I'm sitting there with an overpair or combo draw or lower flush and I just lose. Honestly it must feel great to pick up JJ and KK right in a row, limp in with both, and have someone give you action with 88 on a TT9 board. Or flop a set of kings.

Honestly I don't know how people have money, they constantly limp or flat call with QQ KK and AA preflop. No one will ever reraise AKs. It just boggles my mind that they can win, so passive and just hitting every card.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Just FYI, there is no Santa Claus

[/ QUOTE ]

WHAT????????? Who is that fat guy in the red suit I see in the supermarket every year?

[/ QUOTE ]

He's the drunk bum begging for change on the side of the road the other 11 months of the year.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

To answer your question, no, luck has no memory by definition. To say that there are such things as an unlucky person would imply that luck is not based on random chance, but some sort of quality inherent in the person. Then it's no longer luck but your karma - I don't think there's any accepted mechanism by which you can unconsciously influence how cards are shuffled in such a way as to cause you lose money, except by explicit mechanical cheating.

With that said, it's possible that you *have* been unlucky. I don't know my true win/loss-rate but the difference between my "average" 50-hour rate and my actual worst 50-hour live-poker stretch appears to be about 12 buy-ins (where buy-in = 100BB; so for 1/2 game, this would be $2400) and that happened once already over only about 400 hours of play. Hence, even if you were a good player, your downswing (4.5 buy-ins) would not be considered particularly improbable. I lost more than that in a few hours before. With that said, I play just about every hand preflop whereas you sound like a TAG, so it's possible that you should see less variance.

On the other hand, most players dramatically overestimate their skill. Since skill + luck = result and you can't change the result to any meaningful degree (though many lie to themselves), those with decent memory are forced to assume that their luck has been worse than it actually is. The fact that you don't get to see folded hands makes this self-deception much easier. For instance, people remember when their aces are cracked, but not when they hold up, mostly because the hand usually ends more quickly and often without a showdown when nobody can beat unimproved aces. You'd also note that for the same reason, when you're waiting for the train in a subway station with several tracks, your train always comes last - it's because those times your train comes first, you're not thinking about these other people waiting for the other train. Same with buses, taxis, etc. Also when they are several rounds of betting, people tend to remember only when they were ahead, not when they were behind. If you were against one player and were far ahead preflop and behind on the flop, no matter what cards come on the turn and the river, the loser could claim that as a proof that you were unlucky. You yourself even mention:

[ QUOTE ]

Another less interesting one was getting all-in preflop with QQ vs AK for $100 each. Queen in the door, yet a T also on flop, river J gives him the nuts.


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If all the money went in preflop, exactly how he won is irrelevant. You were a very slight favorite and should expect to lose nearly half the time.

Even during my recent insanely hot stretch (when I made 10 buy-ins above my average rate in less than 40 hours), people hit 4/3/2-outers all the time against me in fairly large pots. If you play poker for 50 hours, you expect to be on the wrong side of bad beats of all kinds even if you're running extremely well. It's difficult to quantify how lucky or unlucky you have been on the balance. I recently had a session where I had Aces twice and lost the maximum amount both times and also lost twice out of the five times I had Kings - I still finished up.

Also, the fact that you say $900 is 9 buy-ins, while describing situations where you had a $300+ stack makes it very possible that you play a +EV game when short-stacked (say, 30-50BB) but not with a 100BB+. The examples you chose also may be a sign of this - good preflop hands holding up is a small part of the total amount of luck involved. Also important are 1) someone else holding a very good hand when you have an even better one and avoiding the reverse and 2) someone else deciding to bluff for whatever reason when you happen to have an unfoldable hand and of course avoiding the reverse.

In short, if you are tight and aggressive preflop and play poorly post-flop, you'd be +EV with a short stack but -EV with a sufficiently large stack. Since you're playing worse, effectively, when stakes are higher, this could very well sum to a -EV overall. Note that you're probably paying the casino and dealers $15 an hour or so and possibly some more to cocktail waitresses, -$900 over 50 hours is basically breaking even with other players. Since you choose to only get involved with big hands that you're willing to go far with, whereas your opponents will give up if they don't hit, you'd feel that you're consistently unlucky in big pots.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

In a poker sense, then yes, it is possible to be unlucky forever in the strictest sense. Varience that lasts the life of your poker career is almost impossible, but its still possible. I have thought about this before- my worst downswing was about 1 1/2 months playing almost very day. If I was just starting and had that run it would put me of for life. This said, to 'run bad' over a few years is statistically possible but sooo improbable that you probably wont find anyone in the world that plays regularly.

On a side note, and it has been mentioned previously, on a larger scale, losing repeatedly at poker even though you are going in ahead does not mean you are born unlucky, or somehow naturally unlucky. Being born in the 3rd world in some war torn country with no food is born unlucky, so although I appreciate your question, you need to keep ideas of being 'lucky' and 'unlucky' as very relative terms. The fact we can discuss these terms in poker terms suggests most of us are very lucky

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
you need to keep ideas of being 'lucky' and 'unlucky' as very relative terms. The fact we can discuss these terms in poker terms suggests most of us are very lucky

[/ QUOTE ]

best point made yet. perspective....

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
On a side note, and it has been mentioned previously, on a larger scale, losing repeatedly at poker even though you are going in ahead does not mean you are born unlucky, or somehow naturally unlucky. Being born in the 3rd world in some war torn country with no food is born unlucky, so although I appreciate your question, you need to keep ideas of being 'lucky' and 'unlucky' as very relative terms. The fact we can discuss these terms in poker terms suggests most of us are very lucky

[/ QUOTE ]

You are confusing worse off with unlucky. They are not the same thing.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

1. Luck is the residue of a well laid plan. That's all that luck is - residue. If you plan well and you try to make good decisions, a lot of times, you control outcomes to a substantial degree.

2. Luck in life is, in large part, a matter of perspective. For instance, if that girl in the photo is your gf, please stfu and share your opinions on how unlucky you are to walls, your dog (he probably won't even listen), or aliens. What, aliens don't exist on this planet? If that's your gf, then they do for you, because apparently you like to entertain things that are a figment of your imagination.

3. If not "2," then realize that luck is all relative and a matter of perspective. You are "unlucky" at poker, but probably not as unlucky as the guy who wasted his 4K bankroll at 10/20NL last night. Or maybe I consider myself unlucky for going on a solid 50 hour slight downswing whereas I feel like I wasted 2 days of my life, but someone else would love to be in my spot because I actually have a BR and I have a pretty good idea wtf I'm doing.

It's all relative. You play poker and you have friends to play tennis with. That's about "luckier" than a huge chunk of all people.

If you compete well, chances are you marginalize your luck will put you in a certain competitive spectrum. This is where "luck" really comes to play - within that thin percentilie where you lie. But, chances are, there are millions of people who want to be where you lie, so who is to say whether you are really "lucky" or not. Better just concentrate on decisions instead.

Barry

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
On a side note, and it has been mentioned previously, on a larger scale, losing repeatedly at poker even though you are going in ahead does not mean you are born unlucky, or somehow naturally unlucky. Being born in the 3rd world in some war torn country with no food is born unlucky, so although I appreciate your question, you need to keep ideas of being 'lucky' and 'unlucky' as very relative terms. The fact we can discuss these terms in poker terms suggests most of us are very lucky

[/ QUOTE ]

You are confusing worse off with unlucky. They are not the same thing.

[/ QUOTE ]


They are the same thing if you are talking about luck in a devine sense- that is to say, if you believe god (or who or whatever) created some people who are 'naturally unlucky'. If you are talking about luck in the varience sense then of course its differet, but if the discussion is on being 'naturally' lucky or unlucky it has obvious either theological or perhaps biological connotations. In that sense, I would argue that to be 'naturally' unlucky would surely encompass what you were born into, what oppurtunities you have, etc.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

luck is a function of competition. Everyone wants basically the same thing, and there is a competitive pool for that. If there wasn't scarcity and everyone could just have what they want, then nobody would complain about being unlucky.

Luck is a function of what you want, and people compete for what you want. If you gf has a large rack and a nice face and you are playing poker and tennis with your friends, chances are you are doing pretty well in the luck department. If you want more but can't get it, you have to re-evaluate your life and/or not equate getting what you want directly with luck and lean how to reach a peace between what you have and what you want.

Barry

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

<---- This is not my GF btw. If it was, I would never impose to make a post like this one.

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

No, it's not possible to be an unlucky person. It's possible to have the unluckiest results that any human has ever had though. Hope that makes you feel a little better.

(On the other hand, you also have the luckiest results that any human has ever had, if you believe in the multiverse.)

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Read some of Richard Wiseman's work on 'luck'. He is a pop psychologist who demonstrates that people who consider themselves lucky tend to create more oppurtunity and have more success than those who consider themselves unlucky. Their brains are more open to information and they are able to perceive things in a clearer fashion (obvious skills needed in poker)

Also, for the guy for said "it doesnt rain everyday", he obviously doesnt live in Scotland [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

Try posting this in the "Beats, Brags, and Variance" forum. You will get great responses, like:
[ QUOTE ]
OP -- yes it is possible to be an unlucky person. For example, think of your parents...

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

[ QUOTE ]
No, it's not possible to be an unlucky person. It's possible to have the unluckiest results that any human has ever had though. Hope that makes you feel a little better.

(On the other hand, you also have the luckiest results that any human has ever had, if you believe in the multiverse.)

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no one definition for "luckiest" and "unluckiest." You could feel like the "luckiest" one day and "unluckiest" the next.

Barry

Re: Is it possible to just be an unlucky person?
 

To start with...I'm very impressed with the responses to this question...At first...I'm thinking...#1...this sounds like me...hhahah! #2...man this guy's going to get flamed! But...instead...people responded very well...giving him some insight and me too for that matter. I'm a winning player..but have hit a downswing with being drawn out out runner runner straights and flushes...including a guy calling my top pair J's on the turn..with nothing more than QT..no straight draw..no flush draw...only 3 outs to win..and yep...Q on the river. I'm disgusted with online poker right now in the midst of the scandals going on..and will probably limit myself to freerolls....until the dust settles...Thank you guys for keeping the posts honest and not flaming...shows alot of class!

Somewhere Out There...
 

Somewhere out there is a man/woman who has not lost a bet.

Somewhere out there is a man/woman who has not won a bet.

Both events become less and less likely the more bets are made.

Games that are not based on probability have no luck in them. You say your opponents were lucky in the tennis match but what you really mean is they played far better than they usually do. In physical sports there is no luck just outcomes that are unquantifiable. For example, in soccer, a player tries a huge kick up field and the ball enters the opponents' net for a goal. What luck everyone declares but what they mean is that the scorer could not have reasonably assumed that his huge up field kick would score. The laws of physics were not suspended at any point. Indeed, physically, when a chain of events is initiated the chain must fulfil its outcome even though that outcome cannot be predicted.

You said it was not a bad beat post but that was exactly what it was. Stop crying. Wet keyboards do not work. Stop lying to yourself. You are not the unluckiest person in the world - probably not even the unluckiest posting in this thread.

Moreover, in the physical non probability world, even the word luck needs to be defined.