On Luck: Life Is Not About Breaking Even

luck (luhk) a noun.
1. the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person's life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities: With my luck I'll probably get pneumonia.
2. good fortune; advantage or success, considered as the result of chance: He had no luck finding work.
3. a combination of circumstances, events, etc., operating by chance to bring good or ill to a person: She's had nothing but bad luck all year. 4. some object on which good fortune is supposed to depend: This rabbit's foot is my luck.

“The mystery of poker, and so it’s infinite fascination, lies in the element of chance, otherwise known as luck. The art of the game lies in minimizing it.” Anthony Holden, Bigger Deal

“Life, after all, is not about breaking even.” see above.

I recently read an article in Poker News concerning luck. Luck is the most talked about topic in poker, and everyone has there own opinion of the subject. It seems to be an attempt to explain away the fortunes and misfortunes of a life filled with randomness. Is it possible for luck to be "good" and "bad", or is it nonsense to apply such adjectives to a word that really describes nothing?

Poker players love to talk about luck. Last night I was talking with Norm, a regular player at my table, and I had this conversation:

Me: "That river card was horrible. I've played nothing but premium hands and still can't win a pot. Poker is the one game where you can make no errors and still have your ass handed to you by some nitwit who makes nothing but mistakes."

Norm: "I know what you mean. It's because this game is all about luck."

Is poker a game of luck, skill, or a combination of both? As Phil Hellmuth famously said, "If it weren't for luck, I'd win every hand." The luck/skill debate is at the center of many late night discussions, home game arguments, and court cases. The IRS sees poker as a game of skill for their purposes, allowing players to write off their loses and be taxed on their winnings as income. On the other hand, many states classify poker as a game of luck and is thus gambling, and therefore illegal in their jurisdiction.

The article made this point: play your best game by making the best choices you can; make the right decisions, and never consider luck a part of your game. You cannot control luck, either good or bad. Just make the right decisions and improve your skill. These are things you can control.

Luck is also involved, naturally, in almost every area of life. Is it luck you were hired for that great job, or was is it skill? Is it bad luck when someone gets cancer? We've all heard about the 100-year-old three-pack-a-day cigarette smoker. Is it good luck they beat the odds? Why do some people seem to always win in contests, drawings, the lotto? Maybe life itself is all luck.

What good is having a skill if you die in a traffic accident? Maybe it takes skill to survive a life of random events that can either kill you or bless you. Maybe the skill of looking both ways before crossing the street is a metaphor for making it through each day unscathed by forces out of our control, forces for both good and evil, the great unseen events that randomly effect our future. We look both ways before we cross the street hoping to cheat fate and put the odds in our favor for a long life.

I like the idea the article writer set forth: never consider luck a part of your game. This is good advice for poker players, both at the table and away from it.


Some famous quotes:

"The only sure thing about luck is that it will change." Bret Harte (1836-1902)

"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect." Ralph Waldo Emerson, US essayist & poet (1803 - 1882)

"Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent." Langston Coleman

"Luck, bad if not good, will always be with us. But it has a way of favoring the intelligent and showing its back to the stupid." John Dewey, US educator, Pragmatist philosopher, & psychologist (1859 - 1952)

"There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe." Robert Heinlein, "Time Enough for Love", US science fiction author (1907 - 1988)

"Successful people are very lucky. Just ask any failure." Michael Levine, Lessons at the Halfway Point