O Fortuna

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I am so sorry, Fortuna, that I have declared war on you. I surrender! I recognize your power over me is like that of Poseidon's over the fisherman. Skill can only guide me along your waters, not overpower you. I will sacrifice to you every day. In every session, I will make a donkey call with crap like the 10-7 that hit the gut shot on the turn against me in no limit last night. I most humbly renounce the title of this blog and submit to your divine will.

2 comments:

il Tucc said...

After a lot of though, I've concluded it's people like me that are going to cause you this frustration. For me, a little poker is just a passing interest. I don't have passion to work to become better or make a lot of money at poker -- it's just something fun to do and try to get lucky now and again (like little old ladies playing the slots).

People like me aren’t going to invest time to develop poker skills and take a run at a large tournament. We play only rarely and are willing to loose just to have fun every once in a while (a night out away from the wife and kids). We’ll loose a lot, but every once in a while we will win. We’re going to drive you nuts, we are going to be short stacked, holding a suited 5-3 and knowing that the big blind is coming around soon. We’re going to raise or go all-in, after watching three better players raise on the same hand, just as a desperation play. When we connect, and come out with a straight flush against your pocket kings, we will make you crazy. We’ll go home and talk about how lucky we were and how much fun we had—even if we busted out later.

We’re not going to take the table, but we’ll mess-up your night at exactly to right time so that the third best player at your table ends up winning big because we got lucky at the exact wrong time for you when your playing your best poker. There are a lot of us out there doing this unknowingly. The next time you play, I won’t be there (I’ll be at home putting the kids to bed) but a clone of me will be there again. Skill players like you are looking for the fish — but we don’t know we’re fish because we don’t play a lot and we get lucky just enough to frustrate you.

Sorry dude.

CCW said...

Exactly why poker is profitable, unlike chess. But it comes at the cost of variance and the associated frustration. For some people, that frustration alone changes them into losers. In the end it's really a war against one's self.