Surviving the bad beats of poker

In poker, it’s very common for the player with the best hand preflop, or after the flop, to loose the hand by them time the river card is laid. I have seen tournaments won where a player needed to catch two very specific running cards in order to win with 4 of a kind. With only two cards left, the chances of this miracle to occur were slim (less than 1 %). But it did happen. It does happen to all of us and when we face the bad beat, it can be very frustrating.

How do you deal with it? When you were the obvious favorite, and the opponent pulled one out of his ass on the river and beats you, how do you recover? Sometimes, hands like these result in significant losses, or even in loosing all your chips if you play tournaments. Bad beats affect you. That is a fact.

I have seen players get angry at the table, get angry at the dealer, get angry at other players, and wanting “revenge” which means they made it a personal mission to take down the SOB that slapped them in the face. When you take a step back and consider such actions, you have to admit it’s a pretty darn stupid reaction.

So how do you deal with it when it happens? First, you need to analyze the decisions you’ve made during the hand. Regardless of who won the hand, did you make the right decision at the time based on the information you had? Was your poker strategy effective? If you eventually go "all in" with the best hand, then you made the right play. It doesn’t matter that you lost. Pat yourself on the back for making the right play at the right time. It’s important to keep your morale up and to remember that you had things figured out correctly. You alone put in all your money with the best hand and that was the best possible scenario. In fact, this is the ultimate goal of Texas Holdem poker, and what ever happens after that is purely random and out of your control. Actually, it’s out of anyone’s control. So when people get angry at the dealer, then it shows how stupid they are. Stupid people don’t win at poker, only the smart ones. Don’t be an idiot.

If you put your money in with the best hand, then you made the right play period. Never forget that. The element of randomness is the only variable you do not control in the entire game. Don’t let it bring you down. Great poker players loose to bad beats. It’s not because they weren’t sharp or because they didn’t make the right moves, but because someone else got lucky. Yes it’s frustrating, but control your emotions. Especially if you are still in  the game. It's not over yet so focus! Besides, I’m sure the opposite happened to you before and you managed a huge suck out at the last minute. Think about that and congratulate yourself on a hand well played, no matter what the outcome was.

courtesy of Ace 

Comments

[Skinski]

Very nice article that everyone who plays poker should remember .