Poker luck factor

I’m not going to try to answer the age-old question: is poker a game of luck or rather a game of skill? in this article.
It has been accepted as a sport in Russia, and indeed there’s a healthy dose of skill involved in it as well. Players who played the game long-enough though, will tell you there’s plenty of luck involved in poker as well.
As a matter of fact, the luck factor is sometimes so prevalent that it’ll drive average, break even players to the brink of despair, and to the conclusion that online poker is unbeatable. The truth however, is that skill is predominant in poker. Players just need to find a way to let skill take the importance it has to, in order to make them winners. In the short term, there is no way skill is going to beat the variance constantly. You need to understand, that no matter how good a poker player you are, a rookie may coma along anytime and mop the floor with you, based on nothing but luck.
It is just as much part of the game, as you scoring big with your skills is. Once you understand this, it’ll be easier to accept variance, and eventually, it’ll be easier to learn to deal with it. Don’t you believe for a second that good poker players are not subject to the luck-induced variance. It is specific to Texas Holdem, if you don’t like it, move on to Omaha where this variance is virtually non-existent. The difference between good and average poker players is usually in the way they deal with the luck factor.
You have to become aware, that despite the apparent choke-hold it has over short-term play, luck is virtually powerless over the long-haul.
With that in mind, what exactly do you need to do to defeat luck? First of all: make sure you survive long enough so you can make it to the “long-run”. This is called the value of survival in poker. The fact alone that you’re around to play for an extended period of time, gives you an edge.
Try to secure as many small edges as you possibly can, and put them to use whenever possible/you can. Edges like rakeback, and poker cashback are truly awesome weapons in this respect. These will make sure that you do indeed get the value you’re after in the long-run.
Besides that, you need to be aware of the following things: The luck factor makes you play worse. Even if you’re a good player, and you get really lucky, next thing you know, you’re playing much looser than you’re supposed to. You come to rely on luck, and luck is the farthest thing from being reliable. Have a reality check whenever this happens to you. Try to take away the luck factor, and ask yourself whether you’re really doing things the way healthy poker strategy says you should. You don’t want poker comedy,, you want serious play.
Always play properly bankrolled. A good bankroll is the deadly enemy of the luck factor. On one hand, it makes sure you kill the short term variance, on the other hand it absorbs the variance itself.