It is a fact, donks get lucky at online poker and good players use to complain about their bad luck against donks. Everything in this life has an explanation and the donk’s luck is not an exception.
Donks get lucky because they rely on luck to play poker. If a donk doesn’t play according to the pot odds and just bets randomly according to what his guts tell him, sometimes he will get lucky. Being lucky is a matter of depending on luck to win money, but if you try to be lucky you will lose money on the long run.
Good online poker players complain at their luck, but being unlucky is a good sign, it means you are not depending on luck to play and thus you are applying the pot odds correctly. If you are outdrawn when you have a good hand it means you were behind in the first place and if after that you get outdrawn by a donk who was chasing you breaking all possible odds, you must smile even if you are losing money. Sounds stupid to smile when you are actually losing money but thanks to that loss you will win money in a future.
Here goes a simple explanation, if you have 30% chances of being outdrawn and you are betting the pot, you will be outdrawn 3 out of 10 times. This means that you will lose 3x the pot in 10 times, but you will get 7x the pot in the same period, in the end you are getting 4x the pot. If donks didn’t get lucky they won’t play poker and online poker won’t be a good business, good player live on donks, not on other good players.
Poker is not a game about luck, it is a game about skill and mathematical thinking. As it is not based on absolute parameters but in chances, sometimes even the worst player may win. For example if you are playing chess, which is the same but with absolute values, in a few games you will notice if you are better or worse than your opponent and you’ll never bet money against someone who is far better than you, but when it comes to online poker anyone is entitled to say they are good players just because they have won a couple of hands. This is great for good players, because in the end they will make money out of donks who think they can be lucky.
So, next time a donk outdraws you with their pocket pair, do not complain at him or call him by his name (this is donk or fish), just tell him “nh” or “nice hand” and compliment their playing style, next time he will play the same and won’t be that lucky. Remember the rule, if you are frequently outdrawn is because you are most part of the time ahead in the game, and this is a good thing, not a bad thing for you. You should start worrying if you win hands because you were lucky…
