What's the Deal? #3
By Sharla Lehrmann

If one were to examine the most commonly asked question in life, I would have to say without a doubt its, "which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Of course, that will be the question of the day in any segment of society other than ours, the wonderful subculture of poker. My basis for discussion is that the most frequently asked question in our specific world, "which would you rather have, luck or skill?"

I cannot begin to count the number of times I've been asked this question. There are copious amounts of articles written about it, great poker players contemplating and hairsplitting over it, and yet, the question remains.

Even I have waffled, depending on how I felt at the moment. Initially, my instinct was to answer, "skill." Nowadays, I find myself tilting my head, squinting my eyes, pursing my lips and droning, "hmmmmm" when asked.

I want to believe that the answer to this question lies in one word, duration. Duration is defined as "a period of existence or persistence." In the long run, skill has to be the answer. Period. Of course, one must ask, "did I bring the right shoes for this run?" Heck, in the long run, I'll be dead. Nonetheless, when playing live poker, one should hone his or her skills and pray for good luck. In the long run by doing this, you will eventually capitalize on the mistakes of these "lucky-skill-less" players. That's the plan as I see it.

As I drove to work this morning, I noticed that there was about 3 feet between death and myself every time a car passed from the other direction. Now, is it luck or skill that I made it here safely today? In the long run, I would imagine it's skill. I continue to stay on my side of the yellow lines, as does the oncoming traffic. This is primarily because of our driving skill. I also say that I am lucky that the other driver isn't reading, putting on makeup, lighting a cigarette, talking on his cell phone or just coming from a bar. Because in a flash, with the circumstances being just right (or actually wrong), I could do nothing to prevent someone from crossing that 3 foot span and hitting me head on.

This analogy is paralleled with the game of poker. It doesn't matter how many books you've read, how attentive you are, how skillful you are, if the circumstances are there for some idiot to make the wrong play and take your seemingly BEST hand out at the river, then, it must be attributed to luck. Plain and simple.

Sometimes, if it weren't for bad luck there wouldn't be any luck at all. I say, don't do like I do and fight it. I'm stubborn and figure luck just has to change when some loony tune plays every hand, and wins one after another. NOT. Get up for goodness sake. Change tables, kiss your amulet, take a walk. Do anything but pass all your money to the "nut with the nuts."

I've decided that my answer is leaning toward luck now. I hope that over time, my skill will come through for me. Short term, as in tournaments, I'm going to take my rabbits foot, my lucky spinner, and anything else that works. I'm gonna hold my mouth the right way, and cross all my digits. I will continue to believe this until I hear someone walk up to me and say "good skill to you" or "you skilly devil you" or "gosh, how can you be so skillful?"

Just as in anything else in life, prepare, practice and pray! Have enough bankroll to play through the crazy times when nothing goes right, and bring plenty of smiles when it does. Learn all you can, play your game, don't go on tilt, take advantage of the mistakes of others, and hope the poker god will smile upon you and smirk at your opponents. Ain't it great? Man, I love this game!

Send questions to me in the What’s the Deal section of the Women’s Forum about any situation you might have experienced and or potential intimidation factors you would like to know about.

I look forward to hearing from you! Until then, Stacks of Racks to Ya!