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 Bad
Beats - Jesse
Mclean |
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The dreaded bad beat - we've all been
there
If you've played more than about 10 hands of poker, the odds are
that you have suffered a bad beat. For those of you who haven't, a bad
beat is basically when your good hand loses to some garbage.
Bad Beat stories are a staple of poker literature / conversation. Nobody
particularly likes hearing them, but telling them helps release steam.
I'll share one, so you have an idea how gut-wrenching probability can
be:
700 person Multi-table tournament that I've qualified for via satellite
(that's a tournament that pays out in places to a bigger tournament), so
this is a big deal for me. We're down to about 140. Seventy places pay,
and I'm in the top ten of chips. In other words, I am fairly confident
that I will cash, and hopefully cash big.
I get dealt AA on the button. The guy to my right makes a raise of 5BB.
I raise all in, and he calls me (I have him covered, but not by much).
He has A7 - at least it was suited.
He needs either 2 of the last 3 sevens, or 4 cards for a straight or 3
for a flush. In other words, I am a big favorite (www.twodimes.net has a
very useful hand analyzer). In fact, you should head over there right
now and test this one out - I've learnt some useful things from running
test hands through their poker analyzer.
Anyway, now you know how much of a pre-flop favorite I was, we'll
continue.
The flop comes A72, giving me a set (three of a kind), he gets two pair
with no flush draw. So, what cards does he need to win?
That's right, both the remaining sevens. Pretty slim pickings.
Of course they came, and I busted out a couple hands later when I pushed
JTs in a semi-steal and was called by A2o.
Let's just say that I was not happy.
So, what should you do when you suffer a bad beat?
It doesn't have to be anywhere near that bad to really make you mad. I
know people who lose what is basically a coinflip (for example 77 vs AKs)
and start yelling. But as sure as eggs is eggs, and as long as there is
poker, people will be getting all worked up about losing hands they
thought they were going to win.
Anyway, getting angry is bad, it definitely does not help your poker. In
fact, a bad beat is one of the easiest ways of going on TILT (which is
bad).
So, how to deal with a bad beat? Well, the key is to find what works for
you personally, but here are some ideas.
1) Remind yourself that in the long run, good play (getting your money
in when you have a better hand than your opponents) will be rewarded.
It's true. Visit twodimes.com, and work out how much of a share you had
in the pot. If it's more than the share of the money you put in (50% 2
handed, 33% with 3 players, if 4 are in and you have over 25% then
you're doing well, if there's 5 players all in, then let me know where
you're playing - 20% is the magic number, but 5 people all-in, I want
some of that loose action).
2) Yell abuse at the screen. It's perfectly OK to call the suck out
artist a "monkey-fingered inbred moron" or "mister stupid-head so stupid
he dropped himself on his head as a baby" or whatever makes you feel a
little better. Just make sure that you're venting, rather than feeding
your anger.
3) Take a walk. It's easier to do in ring games, but even in a
tournament, after a particularly nauseating bad beat, I'll pace up and
down the room for a little while, folding anything that isn't AA, KK, or
AK. If I'm playing cash games and I can't get my head straight after a
series of beats, then I just sit out (or leave the game entirely) and
watch TV for a while, or play Pacman, or head down to the shop and buy
an ice-cream.
 BACK |
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Poker Room To Avoid Bad Beats -
Bodog Poker |
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