Poker vs. Bowling

Superstitions can be good in some types of games.

I remember when I was thirteen and on a bowling league - you run into some hardcore superstitions when you’re in a bowling alley. We've all heard of a pitcher wearing the same socks throughout a winning streak, but the pure lunacy that encompasses bowlers every second of the game is just startling. Bowlers get new superstitions after every frame because they are attempting to do the EXACT same thing twelve times in a row! Having the same exact plan and execution twelve times back to back to back is what makes champions in bowling. Now, it goes without saying that this is a complete improbability in poker, and yet, you'll run into superstitions all around the felt in every state in the nation and country in the world. What's yours? There are so many... how you look at your hole cards, how you stack your chips, or what if you get your 'favorite hand'?

Maybe the hand you 'always lose with'…
“Damn this Jack-Ten, I'm in the small blind with no raisers, but I always get screwed on the river with Jack-Ten...fold – done!”

I decided right from the get-go, that I was not going to have any superstitions in poker. It is just not good for your bankroll to make crucial decisions based on ‘how many times you tap your chips between hands.’ Of coarse, I found out almost as quickly as I decided not to have superstitions- that they are unavoidable.

Or are they?

Well, it just so happened that the answer was right in front of me...
Taking after the old adage, I decided that I would be 'superstitious to superstitions.'

You see a black cat for instance- and boom, your running to the other side of the street. Something bad might happen right? Well, if I start paying attention to lining my card protector up straight between hands - boom, I change my focus to mentally counting the chip stack of the player in seat four. After all, I would hate to accidentally develop a superstition…I always get screwed on the river when I have a superstition.

Delik