luck + money = gambling

Well I took the plunge as they say. Goodbye bankroll, it's coming home. I'm leaving $200 on FT and $70 on PS, which at best could be described as play money. Because at the moment I feel that's all I'm doing, except I'm doing it with money I care about. If I blow this money, I could well just quit all together, but I don't see that happening just yet. I will still be practising some bankroll skills.

I came to realise a couple of things about my game. I rely on luck a lot. Luck obviously has a part to play in poker, it's undeniable. The first luck is when you hold AK all in PF, he holds QQ. A winning session can be made or lost on that one hand, and in fact when you are "running hot", you can't lose these, when you are cold, you never have a chance.

Another luck though is gameplay. I understand some concepts, but overly simplify things I hear or learn, rather than deliberately getting the details out of something. Like someone mentions in a video that you should bet fold in a given situation. That is, bet the turn, if he raises fold. So next time you are in a similar situation you bet fold. Only you didn't try to work out why he bet folded there, so the reasons you do it may or may not be the same. Sometimes it's the right move still, sometimes not, theres the luck.

So luck + money = gambling. It's true. To get away from the gambling side of poker, you have to have all the knowledge of the whys and why nots. You take the gamble out, by putting in +ev. +ev shouldn't be guessed, it should be known and understood. +ev in any given situation comes down to hand ranges (so knowing the opponents very well), understanding hand strengths and how to extract money/protect hands etc and just knowing the maths behind all that. If I was to pick one thing I'm really bad at, it's knowing how to fold hands. I might play NL10 and just really fold it up to get my feel for folding back again.

I'm thinking of a couple of players that are more successful than me. They work very hard to be successful, and really don't have reasons to doubt their skills. I am not there, and will be stuck on a smaller bankroll (without luck) until I do get there. Sure I could see myself building a bankroll relatively quickly, but whats important is I'm going to work hard at doing things right next time I get serious about the game, and until then, just have some fun winning and losing some money in poker at these micro limits.