[razor]

For me I believe I did something wrong in my past as to give me the worst luck of any man to have walked the earth. And no matter what I do this does not change.

What do you rub, hold, idolize, pray to for your cards?

I know that in itself is very bad depending on your faith.

[johnf]

I am not a superstitious man - or at least I wasn't before I started playing poker. Now I'm a walking mass of charms and "lucky" rituals. I like to play by candle light (online, of course) and I go through phases of thinking certain sorts of background music create a good atmosphere for playing. The type of music changes after every bad run (I'm never gonna listen to Exile on Main St again). I even went through a phase of wearing mirrored sunglasses at my PC because I felt it made me more intimidating. How sad is that?

[arcfinn]

Nah, superstitions don't go very well with poker. I know poker players may have alot of them, but I believe it will hurt your game in the long run some how. When I started getting into playing poker I promised myself not get into any silly superstitions no matter what. If I wear a certain hat when I play and I keep winning, so what. If I take the hat off and I lose, so what.

[chris]

Wow, you must have done something very bad. I'm guessing you were a Roman winning poker player.

I'm not superstitious in any manner that I can discern, but maybe that make me superstitious???

Poker is a game with a huge dose of chance. Poker is not a game soley of chance, that would be slots or lottery. Poker offers you chances to make decisions. The decisions you make can profoundly affect how much luck/chance will be involved with the actual outcome.

Now, to Dr Phil, your situation. I doubt you are truly unlucky, you have low self esteem. Confidence is huge in playing good poker. If you feel you are truly unlucky, stop playing poker, or anything that has an element of chance. Your unluckiness will drag you down. Go play games you enjoy that acentuate the skill required. Try volleyball, or chess.

[quickie]

I have an old Morgan silver dollar I use as a card protector. Almost every time I play the someone asks to look at it. I always say it's my "lucky dollar". If I change from regular to dark reading glasses or vice versa I will say "Maybe if I change eyewear it will change my luck" (only if I just lost some hands of course). Do I believe in any of that? Not a bit. But I do try to encourage other players to think superstitiously. The more they believe it's about luck, the less they will think about how to play better.