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Poker and the Bad Beat
Saturday, April 07, 2007
The other day in WPC a friend came in and said she was having trouble against the bad beats of poker. It is one of the larger holes in my game and one of the things I have been working on. I have a tendency to take a bad beat out on myself. Once I take a beat for a large amount of chips; I lie down and play dead. Instead of working to make my stack larger, I play super tight, afraid it might happen again. I have also tried the other extreme and raised with marginal hands against the offender who delivered the bad beat, only to find that THIS time he had a legitimate hand. Either way it ended with little to no satisfaction.
Through the free rolls I have been playing I have seen and been involved in bad beats. Some would curl the hair in your nose just to watch. I have learned a little though both about myself and about how to handle the beats and scars that can be had. I tend to take the beats personally. I feel that there is something wrong with my game when I get beat like that. I always wonder, “What is it about my game that would make that player call or raise against me and think he could get away with it.” “What clues did I give the table that would make them think they had any advantage in calling my raise with 10, 3 off suite?” I would rack my brain looking for answers that were never there to begin with. Then I would go on to how unfair the beat was, sometimes blaming the software but mostly blaming myself.
The truth is that while I do have some issues with my game, playing loose is definitely not one of them. My image at the table is generally that of a tight player. Someone calling my large raises is either an idiot or looking to get lucky and I would imagine in many cases both would apply.
I try not to get bogged down in the unfairness of it all. If it is a bad beat, well, that it is just that and I have to deal with it. Contemplating shrewd play or idiocy on the part of the other player does nothing to help the fact that I was beat. I will sometimes note and review the hand later to see if it could have been avoided on my part. But for the time being, I move on. I know in my personal life, I hate dwelling on what is wrong or unfair. I see no reason why it should be any different in poker.
