Quote Originally Posted by jmrogers7
Probably the biggest problem with poker in playing in any given tournament is that, over the short-term (one tournament, one session in a ring game, one home game), you are largely at the mercy of luck. If you have it then that, coupled with your above average poker skills will most likely allow you to prevail or at least fare very well. If you don't have it, no matter how soundly you play you will most likely not do very well.

Thoughts?
Yes, I have one...

Luck is a definate factor. I could clean up quickly at any table if I had pocket pair after pocket pair all night long. I will end up down at almost any table if I keep getting 72o all night long. Also, I feel I could do a lot better than a below-average player with the exact same cards.

However, you make the most with what you have. In tournament it is more important than in a ring game. You can always walk out at any time of a ring game, there are only 2 ways to leave a tournament, with everything or nothing. It is this reason that I would like to focus more on ring games.

I played over at a friends house a while back. I feel that I was better than anyone else at that table. We played with a $20 buy-in and $2 max bet. I still believe to this day that I had one of the worst string of cards I have ever seen. T/3o, J/2o, 3/"how to order more cards" off-suit. But at the end of the night, I was $4 up. $4 is not a lot, especially when the buy-in is only $20, but the fact that I was up at all says a lot for my skill. I was able to exploit people. I out-bluffed one guy. I was very mad at my cards, and happy with my preformance.

This is true about most ring games. 1st and foremost, if you don't like your cards, get up and go to another table. 2nd, and still important, skill plays a big role, more important than the cards is the skill to use them.