No One Wants to Hear It
I'm not a professional poker player. I wanted to get that out of the way before I write anything else. I am a happily married father of two who works a 9 to 5 job and tries to play poker whenever he can with the money I can afford to lose. That being said, this is not a column on poker strategy. If I were good enough to write stuff like that, I wouldn't have to, if you know what I mean.
I can, however, right about something that I know about and that may help you. How to handle bad beats!
The best place to start is the definition of the term. Is it considered a bad beat anytime someone draws out on you? I don't think so. I believe a bad beat is where you are a clear dominating favorite and have played the hand correctly but you still lose. I remember a tournament in which I was just on the fringe of being short stacked. I had enough to play with but not enough to feel really comfortable. I ended up going all in with pocket kings pre-flop and was called by a bad player who barely had me covered with pocket fives. Needless to say, he drew a five on the river. To be honest, I didn't handle this situation as well as I should have. This, in my opinion, was a bad beat.
The term, "bad beat" is over used and probably not all that accurate in most situations. Let's say you've got a good hand, like trip jacks and only minimum raise after the flop. Someone who has a flush draw calls you and he gets his card. That's not a bad beat since you gave him the proper odds to call, that's just bad poker.
So, before you get all Phil Hellmuth on another player for his actions, ask yourself if there was anything you could have done to prevent this unfortunate situation. Did you play the hand right?
Another thing to think about is in Texas Hold'em is that luck's a bigger factor than any other card game played. That's why it's so popular. Dumb luck is always going to be a factor in the outcome of the game. ALWAYS! No player has ever made the final table in any large tournament and not has got lucky once or twice. Always no player has ever played a huge tournament without making a few mistakes. Again, before going all ape about a suck-out, ask, "How many times did I get lucky" and "Did this guy just make one bad play or is he really a bad player."
Let's now get to what I started writing this about, how to handle bad beats. When they happen, close your eyes and take a deep breath, slowly let the air out, and move on. If you have to yell and scream, leave the room and go it with the smokers outside. In other words, have class and dignity. Remember, you've been on the other side, have you not?
And while we are on the subject, lets talk about the bad beat story. NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR IT! No one at all! Not the players at the table, the tournament director, the folk on rail, your spouse, friends, realities, or the bum sitting on the sidewalk outside the casino. If you need to get it off your chest, buy a little diary and scribble down how runner, runner spades gave the goofball at the end of the table a flush over your trip aces. It happens! Better yet, start a blog and document it there like I did.
Sir Underbelly Poker
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/
Added: June 10, 2008
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