Stupid superstition

[Arito]

At the risk of being branded a superstitious dumb-ass, I want to see if i'm the only one that thinks like this. Just a little disclaimer: I am a college graduate and have a firm grasp on statistics and mathematics (although this will no doubt be challenged by the end of this post). [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I have a 'feeling' that whenever I have lots of losing sessions, I am more inclined to win, and vice versa. This is not so bad, because I basically have to keep playing anyway to get to the 'good run' again or stop alltogether.

Much worse is that this extends to everybody using my computer. I have a roommate, that plays on the same (small) network, same stakes and same computer as I do. He currently has a big upswing and it is making me nervous to play, because I have some sort of feeling that I will have to balance his good luck with bad luck of my own.

This is not a new thing. In general, whenever he has a losing session, I am much more inclined to play than if he had a winning session. I have had this for the past couple of months and I think empirical evidence is backing me up on my suspicion. Obviously, my biggest concern is that my bad 'feeling' is actually causing me to play worse, turning it into a self fulfilling prophecy.

Poker is not the only thing I have this kind of feeling with. I don't gamble much anymore because of poker but whenever I play blackjack, I up my bet if the dealer has had a couple of blackjacks in a row. When I play Roulette, I always bet whatever hasn't fallen for about 8 spins. (Black when red hasn't fallen, 1-18 when 19-26 hasn't etc.)

I KNOW it doesn't make a difference in casino games (which is why I don't play them often), but it is making me play poker nervously.

Anybody have the same feeling or am I really a retard? [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]