Superstition and Skill - How to Win a Poker Tournament

'Everything in life is luck.' Who said it?

Life is full of superstition. Poker legend Johnny Chan refuses to sit down at a big game without his lucky orange, a carryover from his Oriental upbringing.

Go into a casino anywhere. Watch the dice, poker, baccarat and slot machine players. They will probably have a good luck symbol that they rely upon for those magical draws that fill their pockets with sudden cash.

Thomas Jefferson once said, 'I would rather have an ounce of luck than a pound of gold.'

Phil Hellmuth told me in a candid interview, 'I am the luckiest man alive.'

I once owned a lucky Stetson. The hat had been stepped on by horses and nearly got washed away by an ocean tide in the Caribbean. I risked being trapped by a riptide and swam after my hat and retrieved it.

Everything in life is luck.

When the PowerBall jackpot passed the $1 billion mark, three people bought tickets that were a perfect match to the drawn numbers. How they made their numbers selection is irrelevant. The luck is the thing that must be taken into consideration.

A beautiful young girl strides into a field. She kneels down and plucks a Johnny-Jump-Up. Peeling the purple flower apart, she hums to herself, 'He loves me...he loves me not...'

I am engrossed in a major poker tournament. Another player hesitates and then says, 'All in.' He pushes his stack forward and I am left with my pocket jacks wondering if my hand is a winner or worthless.

It is one minute to post time. I am down to my last bet. I think the two horse is a winner, but there is a sudden drop in the odds on the eight horse. What to do, what to do?

'Everything in life is luck'. Who said it?

If your answer is one of the candidates for President and the person's name is Donald Trump, you are right. If Trump believes luck is that important, who am I to argue?

I once had a good luck piece that I carried with me wherever I went. It was a small statuette of a black cat with white paws and a golden base. I called it Silver, Gold and Snow.

Did I believe in luck when I placed the cat on my cards in a tournament or cash game? Of course I did.

Donald Trump is one of the luckiest billionaires the world has ever seen. If he believes in luck, again, who am I to argue with him?