Observation helps re-enforce Poker Lesson

I have been enjoying some time off and playing a lot of poker lately. I have also been reading a couple of books that I had intended to read but never got around to. Some of them were smaller paperback poker books I simply had on my to do list. But it was not until I was watching some old episodes of the United States Poker Championship and the World Series of Poker that the message became loud and clear.

One of the things we all know is that poker is a game of long term expectations. Anything can happen within the flip of a card or two but how many of us are confident enough to let the bad beats roll off knowing that our margin of skill will overcome in the long run. I guess what I am saying is that with my time off and seeing so many of the top pros go up in flames to bad beats it kind of put everything back in perspective for me.

There are times when you think that you are the only one that seems to get drawn out on with the miracle card on the river. That couldn't be further from the truth. By watching several tournaments from hand to hand and seeing so many bad beats on exceptional I realized again that I was not only playing well but that things sometimes happen. Variance is not something any of us can control. We just want to avoid the bad side of variance as much as is humanly possible. So the next time you start feeling a little frustrated about taking a bad beat or several of them pop in a tape of the WSOP or any other tournament that shows hand to hand play from beginning to end. You will find that you are far from alone.

By observing others our own strengths and weaknesses become magnified. We also can see that even though variance may not swing favorably to us at times our skill will always win out over the long term. That is the power of observation.