[SA125]

Just wanted to wish you guys good luck. Only suggestion I have for you guys to help aspiring players to really learn the game is to spend some time with them talking about the harshness of it.

You guys know that the difference between poker and golf is that a very, very good golfer can play Tiger Woods, or any top tour pro for that matter, all day every day and never, ever win. He has no chance.

Yet a very, very good poker player can play with Phil Ivey, or any other top pro, and walk away a winner that day. Over time it'll be a really bad idea to play Ivey all day every day, but you can beat him on any given day. Because the cards can go your way. It's the nature of the game.

The good news in that is also the bad news. Your new players will be getting better and better and yet are sure to take some beats and are guaranteed to run bad at some point. Maybe seriously bad. Once someone knows how to play really well, the harshness of the variance in poker is the toughest thing to understand, manage and deal with.

I learned to deal with it when I realized it's untrue when they say poker is all skill and no luck. The reality is that poker is a gambling game of probablility just like roulette. The main difference being is how you have the best of it in poker can fluctuate along with the cards.

In roulette the edge of the house is built into the game and the gamble is a simple spin of the wheel. The definitive simplicity of it guarantee's that, no matter how good a player may run at the wheel, he will go broke.

You believe you will win in poker because, just like in roulete, you have an edge on the other players and therefore have the best of it. You will keep putting yourself in position with an equity edge and over time are guaranteed to win.

The difference is obvious though. The edge you have and the gamble of the cards is pretty far from the simplicity of spinning the wheel. In fact it can sometimes be very difficult to realize and profit from it over periods of time.

Not because you don't play really well. It's because the edge you have isn't set. It's constantly fluctuating depending on how many players are in the game and how well they play. And the run of the cards may go against you for longer than you'd think possible.

When someone plays different games and different limits it just adds to the variables and how it'll effect your BR.

A player can still be a winner who will consistently beat the game of poker. The gamble is with cards though and that can make the journey pretty uncomfortable at times. Understanding that is important and easier said than done. It's do able but far from easy.

GL.