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DeathJester's Dojo
The Road to
Success:
How Do You Deal With Luck?
Bryan Camareno a.k.a. DeathJester
May 31, 2005
Since luck is an aspect of YuGiOh we cannot control,
it leads most of us to believe that some people can
only win with “God Hands”; as fellow writer, Evan
Vargas, would call them. Most of you know that I’ve
discussed the concept of luck and its manifestations
before. To quote myself: “You make your own luck…”
this statement still holds true since I last wrote
about it. Today I come with additional information
on this strange phenomenon we call “luck”.
Here’s a blunt and honest observation: Your opponent
is as lucky as you think he/she is. Your opponent’s
luck is based on the affirmation of both players
considering one of them as being lucky. The more you
accuse your opponent of being lucky, the luckier
he/she will get. Isn’t that strange? Try it with a
player that you know is lucky and proceed to observe
how many times he/she will rip that Pot, Graceful,
or Delinquent Duo you didn’t want them to draw. Put
more specifically: Your thoughts have a significant
influence on how lucky your opponent will seem or
be. Negative and positive thoughts influence your
game as much as your skills and card choices do. Am
I saying that you can control your own luck to a
certain degree? Yes.
My next observation concerns how luck works for both
the skilled player and the average player in YuGiOh.
This concept was brought to my attention by my good
friend Kris Perovic of Team Overdose. Skilled
players seem to be less lucky than average
players…why? Because skilled players don’t
necessarily rely on that luck to accomplish their
goals, they make their moves much more precisely
than the average player does; plain and simple. A
skilled player will set up the game better 10 times
out of 10. The only deciding factor between an
average player and a skilled player is luck. A
skilled player will never let himself/herself be
out-played by a lesser opponent. Thus, a skilled
player cannot be out-played, but can only be
out-drawn by the average player. In other words, the
average player MUST get lucky in order to win
against the more skilled player.
Put an average player with average skill and a lot
of luck in a competitive environment, and he/she
will do just fine. Put a skilled player with elite
skill and little luck in a competitive environment,
and he/she can out-play the players on his/her own
level, but struggle against the average ones.
Average players can out-draw a skilled player more
often than not, but may not win at all. This
explanation of luck is paradoxical, but true. Now
get this, match up two skilled players against each
other and watch as one of them gets luckier than the
other. Why is this? Because skilled players do not
let themselves be out-played by any opponent but can
only be out-drawn. One person HAS to win right?
Given that they both do not make any mistakes, then
one player must draw better than the other; that’s
how it goes. No matter what, one of them will be
angry and the other will be relieved.
Even skilled players can get lucky, yet they are
only lucky against other skilled players. One
skilled player can have a hand like this: Heavy
Storm, Dust Tornado, Mystical Space Typhoon,
Premature Burial, BLS, and Call of the Haunted. The
other can have this hand: Breaker the Magical
Warrior, Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer, BLS, Blade
Knight, Jinzo, and Airknight. Who will win this
game? Isn’t it obvious? This kind of situation
occurs ALL the time between skilled players. This is
why bluffing makes every bit of difference against
between skilled players. Here is a brief
explanation:
“To the uninitiated, poker is all about bluffing.
Consider this your initiation – they are wrong!
While bluffing is certainly an important part of the
game, it’s not as effective a play as you may have
been lead to believe.
In order for a bluff to work, you have to be using
it against an opponent who is scared enough, or,
smart enough to fold. This is the “Paradox of the
Bluff”: It’s a terrible play to make against
terrible opponents.”
- Phil Gordon
This advice can be applied to our game easily since
Poker and YuGiOh have the same elements of luck and
misinformation attached to them. When you are up
against an opponent you know is not as skilled as
you are, bluffing will not only cost you a good
card, but it can cost you the game. Average players
cannot be fazed by bluffs period. Especially since
most of them do not know how to bluff effectively or
read them. This is why, against an average player,
you can set trap after trap and they will fall for
it every time because they do not fear bluffs. So if
your average opponent does not fear bluffs then you
should NOT bluff. If your skilled opponent does not
fear bluffs, you will catch them with real threats
every time. I can guarantee that your average
opponent will fall for every trick you can think of
besides bluffing.
Now try bluffing against a skilled player; how much
more successful will your bluff be? At least 90%
more. A skilled player will almost never waste
removal on something he/she suspects to a bluff; it
just doesn’t happen. A skilled player will use
his/her monsters to figure out the real or fake
threats. In conclusion, one sure-fire way to win
against an equally skilled opponent or better
opponent is to bluff effectively. Another sure-fire
way to beat a better opponent is to believe, or
rather, affirm that you are luckier than they are.
Positivity will always yield positive results.
Until next time everyone, remember to practice, stay
focused, and most importantly…have fun!
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