while i hate to quote from the overcliched rounders, i have to here.. "Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career."

this also goes hand in hand with all the people who INSIST that online poker is rigged, that flushes always hit, and that there's always action hands.

i had one of these guys at my table today who, after being on the low end of a set over set, went off on a 10 minute tirade about how stars is rigged so someone always has a pair, so flushes always hit, and so the pots are made to be as big as possible. i pointed out to him that since his hand, we hadn't had a single pot over $100 (this at 2/4nl table).if his points were true, then surely at least one of the previous 15 or so hands would have had the little bit of action that it takes to get to a $100 pot. but nope.

it's always easy to realize when something lucky (or unlucky) happens to you - 'cuz it's right there. someone hits their flush in a big pot, and it's all that's on your mind "i never dodge the flush draws. ever". or you flop sets back to back at the same table "today's my lucky day!".

yes. our general perception of luck is fairly short term. in any individual session, week, month, even year, things can be slightly skewed to one side or another. we've all had periods of time in which nothing goes our way in the big pots, but we've also (at least the winning players) had periods of time in which everything goes our way in big pots. in the end it all evens out.

(thats thread of the year, for all ya'll that didnt know)

Luck is our short term perception of the long term.

How's that for a definition?