My share vs total in a Bitcoin Pool

[ShinkeiNo]

Intro: I'm not a newb from the computer standpoint (grew up on terminals, I remember BBS, amateur programming...).  Bitcoin intrigues me and I believe it's here to stay.  It has appeal from the security side and something about it just makes my nerd-sense tingle... anyway enough about that.

So I researched a lot before joining the initiative to 'invest' in Bitcoin and decided I would join Slush's pool.  Well I noticed that every time I mine, I end up with shares in blocks that have a HUGE number of total shares... like 1-2 orders of magnitude greater.  So what gives?  For example, I had my largest shares in this block http://blockchain.info/block/00000000000000bf8bfe0ceabe3bc4462f7e078fc2a69de7a0ab1ca46b1a1419?site=slush and it was more than 10x larger total shares than any other block in the past two days... and I had my only other shares in the second largest!  So was this just bad luck?

[DeathAndTaxes]

Maybe you just don't have much hashing power?

In the long run if you have say 1 GH and the pool has combined 1 TH (1000 GH) then you will receive about 0.1% of the block. 

[ShinkeiNo]

Thanks for the reply.  I will keep trying and see what happens.  Yeah, I am definitely not big time in any sense of the word... I am only running about 250MH/s.  It was more a learning exercise than anything else.  People don't realize how cutting edge Bitcoin really is.... I mean, I work with a lot of people who have never even heard of Bitcoin--albeit non computer science people.

BTW, I like your service FastCash4Bitcoins.  As highlighted in the recent mass media articles, it seems like the biggest hurdle to Bitcoin entry has been the 'Cash to Bitcoin' transfer though.  It'll be interesting to see when people manage to simplify this transfer.

[DeathAndTaxes]

We do Fiat to BTC conversion as well (Bitcoins Direct - Private Off Exchange Sales).  That half of the process has more "interesting" challenges, so we have decided to focus only on high value transactions ($500 min, average purchase is $10,000 to $30,000).  I am sure better fiat -> BTC systems will emerge with time.  Remember Bitcoin is only four years old.