Monday, February 08, 2010

There is no such thing as variance

Let me clarify that title...

There IS such a thing as variance in poker, I just don't think it is affecting me at the moment and let me explain...

In cash games at the moment, even though i'm getting better, i'm still making mistakes and not maximising the amount won in premium hands and still not getting away from hands as quick as I should. It's very easy to blame bad results at the moment to variance and not just bad play. I think variance comes into play when you're a top player and playing your A game and losing and being outdrawn THAT is variance. It's far too easy to use variance as an excuse for making mistakes and being a poor player.

2 comments:

S1ndr0me said...

+1

me losing money is 90% of the time my own fault.

Meteoric said...

I reckon there are some elements of variance that can amplify your bad mistakes if you're prone to tilt.

For instance, getting AA preflop and everyone folds or hitting a flush and getting no action from the guy who missed the flop entirely. Or running card dead when the blinds begin to bite in a tournament. That stuff is all variance going against us, but in itself doesn't cost much - it's our stupid reactions to these things that screw things up.

Possibly this is more common than the outer outer bad beat type stuff?