Statistical variance, bad luck, suck outs... it's all part of the game - it's how you handle bad beats that makes the difference in your bottm line poker game.
Have you ever played a game of poker where you have your opponent dominated and he hits a two outer to win the pot? In poker, a bad beat occurs when you get your money in the pot with the best hand but end up losing because your opponent gets lucky. Many times in poker, you will be on the wrong side of bad beat and lose the hand.
There is nothing you could have done to play the hand better but you will still lose. How are you supposed to feel about playing great but still losing the pot? Every serious poker player knows that poker is a long run game. In the long run, if you are the better player, you will eventually win all of the money at the table. Understand that bad beats happen to everyone and they are a part of the game. If bad beats didn’t exist, the game of poker would not exist. Bad beats give your weaker opponents a false belief that they can beat the game.
JP adds about Bad Beats:
There are times where you run hot or cold, you hit or don't hit, you win more than you lose. Call it variance, luck, or a run of dumb players online at that time. Take advantage of it when doing good and play more or play at the top level of your br range. If it's running the otherway, drop in levels, play less, or take a break BEFORE the br drop forces you to step down.
I can't seem to get this through my thick skull and my br variance is 400%! I don't drop when "running bad" and don't take full advantage when running good. Sunday late and yesterday afternoon I was doing good in some 30 & 50 sngs. So I went to cash, lost 4 buys in short order before stepping down, lost 2 more and stepped down again. Rather than take advantage of what WAS working for me, the sng, I stupidly went up to my normal level in cash, lost and dropped along with br. I should have dropped BEFORE br drop made me step down. Likewise I should have STAYED in the sngs.
One day maybe I'll learn my lesson. I know I'm at the "pain level" now as mentioned in another thread so I think a lot more about what game to enter. Too bad I have to still get hit in the head a couple times to do the right thing.
If my charting is any indication, I'm halfway down my "my bad run" pattern so will hang low until it shifts again.
Bad beats keep your weaker opponents in the game even though they have no chance of winning in the long run. If bad beats didn’t exist, your weaker opponents would realize that they are losing all the time. Your weaker opponents would never gamble against you because they wouldn’t want to lose their money. Imagine people playing Tiger Woods for large sums of money with no handicap adjustment. The chance of any person beating Tiger Woods in a heads up match is very low.
In poker, players willingly hand over their money to Phil Ivey, ‘The Tiger Woods of Poker’. The bad beats are necessary to keep the bad players coming back for more and more punishment. The bad players have no chance of winning in the long run. The bad beats give them the wrong perception that they are beating the game. If you are serious about making money by playing poker, let the bad beats roll off your back. In the long run, the best players always win.
Napoleon Will is a self-published author and semi-professional poker player. He updates the poker review site http://www.mypokerstart.com
