Do people who get angry at bad beats understand poker?

[ChicagoTroy]

Last night, a player who accurately noted that I had caught about a 6.5 outer blew up at the table in another hand when another player drew out on his aces with 62o; the fish had called the flop with nothing, caught the duece on the turn, and the six on the river, then checkraised the aces. The guy with aces, jumped out of his chair, berated the winner in a loud voice, and proceeded to tilt.

I would posit, despite this player's obvious mathematical understanding of the game, that he either a) does not understand poker or b) does not have the emotional makeup to play the game.

We see people like this all the time, even here. Opinions?

(BTW, I am not a poker monk on the mountain who doesn't get irritated when he loses a huge pot to dumb play. But the last thing I want to do is to have a terrible player leave the the table or improve his play, therefore I never criticize him).

[Mayhap]

They may quite well understand poker but they obviously don't understand themselves very well.
0.02
/M

[Al Mirpuri]

[ QUOTE ]
They may quite well understand poker but they obviously don't understand themselves very well.
0.02
/M

[/ QUOTE ]

They understand neither poker nor themselves.

[Triumph36]

They understand poker, I think.

When other players fold their hand, I don't sit there wondering what they were drawing with against my aces. I just know that they called with a dominated hand and couldn't win.

I've been there complaining, criticizing, and tilting after a bad beat. I really don't think someone playing 62 offsuit is going to improve their game based on my criticism, and they may try to call with any two against a raise to suck out and hear another entertaining sermon. I know players at my (rare) home game do this occasionally and I try to use it to my advantage. It's still wrong to criticize because it creates a bad atmosphere for what's supposed to be a game.

But in essence, the habitual critic wants the player with 62o against his aces in every flop except for the one where the 6 and 2 come out. And to some players, it's hard to get in that Zen state where they remember the long run is the only thing that matters.

[blackaces13]

They may know a little about poker strategy and odds but they certainly never gave any thought to why it is possible to make money at poker.

[Michael Davis]

The obvious, repeated answer on a forum like this is no. But sometimes they do.

-Michael

[RydenStoompala]

The correct response would have been "nice hand." You would NEVER want someone who would call with 6,2o to leave. That would be nearly as stupid as what the idiot did when his aces got cracked.

[steamboatin]

When it happens over and over in the same session it is easy to get angry. Getting angry is on thing but letting the other players know is completely different.

It is stupid to scare the fish or make them tighten up and I never berate another player but there has been more than once they have had me talking to myself.

I am working on that ZEN thing.

[Desdia72]

an understandable human emotion when a person steams after a bad beat. just because one guy is able to keep it together and say, "nice hand" does'nt mean that he understands poker more than a person who flips out and blows up. people have different ways of dealing with a common and shared occurrance. this same type of scenario inevitably plays itself out in countless other situations in everyday life. i understand this is an everyday part of life when dealing with creatures on the highest emotional plane. if you sell drugs and hustle for a living in a bad area and end up catching a bullet in a drive-by that was meant for another guy on the block, do you understand the consequences of choosing that lifestyle when you fall to the ground cursing in pain? of course you do. however, that does'nt take away the fact that you feel pissed at becoming a victim of violence that was meant for someone else. sure, the example may be extreme, but most people i come in contact with know EXACTLY what their getting themselves into
when they choose to do or get involved in something. even so, when bad things happen--- it's not out of the ordinary to respond in anger.

[bodie]

There seems to be an awful lot of complaining about bad players, chasers, etc and how they ruin everything. Well, I would have to say that that is part of the game, especially these days when poker is so popular, and the luck of the cards will cause them to win, or to lose. Even the most professional players will lose against luck, and as you all know, will go "all in" and lose on a lucky draw - it's the nature of the game. So I think this superior, high-handed attitude only takes away from your game, and acts as nothing but an excuse.

[Lawrence Ng]

There are 2 types of people that do this, as experience has told me:

1. The player who's ego is bigger than Pamela Anderson's breasts. This player cannot stand to have longshots and thus their attitude is that the best should always win. Contradicting themselves is key to what they believe because they will never understand that poker has something called luck which they fail to grasp.

2. The player who is playing for a living or cannot afford to lose. We've seen these players. The ones who take a shot, or wait for that great KK or AA hand and then goes ballistic when it gets cracked. These players understand that bad beats are part of the game, but fail to accept it.

[BusterStacks]

They do not understand the very core concept of winning money at poker. Not even partly...ever.