Despite the celebrity status that many professional players have gained over the last several years, there are still people who do not believe that a poker player can be a winner over the long term on skill alone. These skeptics may concede that some players have won significant sums of money at the game, but they chalk the winning up to ‘luck’ or ‘good cards’. Some people are just naturally cynical and find the idea of gambling for a living too good to be true; yet many others let their own negative experiences skew their beliefs.
Members of the latter group label themselves unlucky and say, “Well, I play correctly, but my pocket aces always lose to 6-7 suited or some other trash, so poker must be all luck.” These players are either not as good as they think they are, or they have not played nearly enough to show a profit from their good play. Regardless of what non-believers say, it is possible, albeit very difficult, to a winning player at poker over the long haul.
