Are Some People Simply Luckier?
Ever since the concept of gambling came about, people have been looking for ways to improve their luck and, with it, their chances of winning. The concept of luck is deeply connected to gambling and, no matter how you look at it, you do need to “get lucky“ to win.
Even if we observe luck as just a series of random events, it is hard to explain how come sometimes you’ll get those great runs when your roulette numbers come in five times in a row. And, if there is more to it than just randomness, if there is something behind all the chaos, what it is and can it be controlled?
If Luck Is Random, Why Do Some People Seem Luckier?
In theory, the distribution of luck should even out more or less over a long period of time. This is to say that every person should get equally lucky and unlucky. But, we know from real life events that this isn’t exactly the case.
For example, there have been quite a few Las Vegas gamblers who had
never played slots in their lives and won huge jackpots within their first few spins. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people were in that same casino, playing that same game over and over again, without ever hitting a jackpot.
Likewise, some people were able to win two or even three major lottery or lotto jackpots. Once again, mathematical odds against this happening even once are astronomical. To have someone win two or three times is just mind boggling. But, we know it happens.
Some people just get “luckier” than the others and win for the second time before thousands upon thousands of hopefuls trying to hit that same magical score.
So, can we really say there is no such thing as luck and it’s all just random?
We could go into a deep and endless philosophical debate here and approach this subject from a hundred different angles. Could it be karma or something else? Was it their lucky charm or their overall positive approach to life?
The problem with this is, even if some of this were true, we would have no way of knowing it. So we have to go with what we do know.
Random Is Just… Random
If someone walks
into a casino for the first time, presses the spin button on a slot, and immediately wins the jackpot, it is striking. Everybody’s in awe and they are wondering how lucky this guy or girl must be.
Had the same jackpot been won by the guy sitting on that same machine every day for few hours, people wouldn’t take as much notice because it is somewhat expected, right?
But you can’t will the machine into spitting a jackpot and there is no way to predict the lottery numbers.
Slot jackpots are paid at random times and triggered by a random series of events that sends the message through the RNG that this is the spin where jackpot will be won. So, sitting at the machine and playing it every day does somewhat increases the possibility of being there at the right moment but not nearly by as much as people seem to believe.
Since there is so much uncertainty about it, there isn’t much anyone can do to significantly increase their odds of winning. Every spin is as likely to produce a winner as is the one before it.
Taming Lady Luck
Luck, Fortune, or whatever other name you want to assign to the phenomenon, has often been described as shifting and elusive. Lucky streaks in casinos come and go with no warning. You could be winning for hours but, all of a sudden, your streak ends, and no matter what you do, things don’t go your way.
Oftentimes, players end up losing the lot and then some when this happens.
But, some gamblers have learned their lessons, many of them the hard way. I’ve often heard people talking about this guy or that girl who are “so lucky” because they don’t lose nearly as often as the others. They walk away with money in their pockets and have an unusual number of winning sessions in a casino.
The truth of the matter, this has nothing to do with luck as such. We’ve all been there – winning a bit of money and thinking about calling it a day but changing our minds only to regret it later. These people who walk away winners more often are the ones who don’t change their minds.
They have the discipline to stop when they start feeling things aren’t going their way and just get out of dodge.
In all of my years I’ve been around casinos, I haven’t met many people who fit this particular profile because stopping when your winnings start to melt is one of the hardest things to do.
You’re always chasing the high point in your session because you feel like you’re somehow entitled to it. But, those rare who do have this ability do walk away winners more frequently and certainly don’t lose as much in casinos.
A Bit of Skill Helps Too
Gambling is gambling – you can’t beat the house and, no matter what, you’ll always end up losing to a casino if you stick around for long enough.
Whether it is on one visit or across 50 different visits, at the end of the day, the odds are against you to beat the game unless you win a massive jackpot completely disproportionate to your usual bets.
However, how fast you’ll lose and how big your losses will be on a particular session isn’t up to luck alone.
While most gambling games aren’t skill games as such, it doesn’t mean that your odds of winning are the same no matter what you do. Blackjack is an excellent example of this.
Someone who plays simply relying on luck and knowing nothing about the basic strategy, for example, will lose much more money than an experienced gambler who knows exactly when to hit, when to stand, and when to double.
I’ve even seen people play roulette in a way that almost guarantees they can’t win. They would spread out $300 or $400 across the table and even when the number they root for the most comes in, they only get paid like $400-$550. This high-risk and super low reward system is completely counter-intuitive for roulette.
Although, in theory, the house edge doesn’t change no matter what you do, people playing like this basically ensure they’ll never have a big winning session even when they do get “lucky” and hit a few good numbers in a row.
Their losing sessions, though, are just as brutal as with those playing with the chance of winning massive amounts with these kinds of bets.
Can Intuition Help Make You Better Gambler?
Human intuition is one of those things that we can’t exactly define. We can’t deny its existence because we’ve all experienced it at some points in our lives so it is definitely there.
At the same time, intuition-based decisions are as often wrong as they’re right. So, should you trust your intuition when gambling? Is that the way to unlock the door to luck?
I really couldn’t say.
Some people do seem to have developed intuition and their decisions are quite often right. So, this might apply to gambling as well. However, I wouldn’t suggest taking things too far because intuition isn’t the same thing as being able to predict future (which would definitely be helpful in a casino).
It is usually a mix of emotions based on your knowledge and previous experiences so there is definitely some value to trusting your instincts.
Conclusion: Luck Is in a State of Constant Change
Regardless of how you choose to define luck, there is one thing that simply remains true at all times. There aren’t really lucky and unlucky people.
Someone may seem luckier today and another person may seem supremely unlucky. But that’s not to say that same unlucky person won’t get very lucky tomorrow. There are no rules to it so it is, in the end, all random.
When it comes to gambling, though, there are definitely some things you can do to help boost your luck, as discussed in this blog. Taking some time to learn to play the games you enjoy properly is definitely one of those things. Being able to walk away with some money in your pocket instead of insisting on losing it all before quitting is another.
Apart from this, if you don’t feel lucky or feel like someone else is getting luckier all the time, just be patient. Luck is in a state of constant change and your lucky streak could be coming when you least expect it.
When it does, just make sure to take full advantage of it and stay alert because luck never lasts too long at a gambling table!
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