Gambling and Superstition

Gamblers are known to be very superstitious people and in many of them exists a strong belief that adapting to superstitions will make them enjoy the graces of lady luck.

Gambling and superstition has been the subject of many psychological studies and many of them showed that even some of the most astute and successful gamblers have tendencies to allow superstition to guide them when they gamble or even dictate gambling patterns.

Superstitious players would analyze occurrences during winning sessions to try and determine which conditions existed and try to replicate those conditions in following playing sessions.

The condition they examine can relate to things that had something to do with the game itself like the table they set at or which of the dealer was dealing them.

However some gamblers choose to focus on conditions that had nothing to do with the game they were playing. Things like the clothes they were wearing or an item they had in their pocket while they played.

This type of thinking resulted in bizarre occurrences such as players deciding to always wear the same undergarments while they played or carrying the same empty packet of cigarettes in their pocket while they play.

Such players can also result to analyzing losing playing sessions to try and determine which conditions occurred that were "bad luck" and do anything in their power to avoid creating those conditions the next time they play.

Some gambling superstitions are not exclusive to a particular gambler and will not be based on personal observations, but rather be existing beliefs that often circulate among players. Even those players who will try to test an established superstition may discover that they have engaged in a self fulfilling prophecy by buying into the superstition and deciding to test it.

The power of thought is definitely a force to be reckoned with and it is always advised to play the odds and stick to game that players are familiar with and games that give them pleasure while they play them, rather than succumb to silly superstitions.