Learning to lose

I think this is a very overlooked skill, one touched on by both Al Schoonmaker and Ray Zee below. It is inevitable that you will take lots of "bad beats" if you are playing well, because you'll constantly be getting money in with the odds in your favor, and sometimes you'll get beat. It's a lot less memorable when you flop top two pair, bet it all the way, and your opponent mucks the river then it is when he hits that gutshot str8 or backdoor flush. Learning to deal with losing in the context of playing your best means you aren't gun shy about getting your money in with the best of it, understand what happened, analyze if there was a better way to have played it and move on.

[SittingBull]

very small. Hence,in this context,U will rarely be beaten if U play well most of the time.
Part of the definition of a "bad beat" is a beat that occurs rarely over the long haul.
If "bad beats" occurred frequently to a player,then most of the time,this player would be playing incorrectly.
If a player doesn't react to a bad beat as if he were hit by a thunder bolt, then he is probably not playing correctly most of the time.
A good player will be somewhat "shocked" /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif because he is NOT used to being beaten. Remember,on a % basis,he is rarely beaten.

Happy pokering,
Sitting Bull

Bull, for once I disagree. There are many situations where you are a 2-1 favorite and should clearly bet. For example, when you have an unimproved pair of aces and believe your opponent has a lower unimproved pair or a draw that has not made it yet. Your opponent may well be absolutely right to call for the overall size of the pot, but you are still right to bet as you are getting 2-1 on that particular bet. Yet you are going to lose about one in three times. Often, bad beats aren't shocking at all -- unless you have a very certain tell, you are going or bet when you think you are odds-on to be winning. Where I think we'd agree is that for the SESSION, where you are making +EV plays almost all the time, you should have many more winning than losing sessions. As long as you understand what happened and analysis confirms that your strategy, read of opponent(s) holdings, card and pot odds was correct, then I think you can take bad beats in stride and move on.

Here's a recent example: I played 1-3 no ante on Sunday and was about to leave up a modest $30 or so after 6 hours when I made open trip threes, to fill my pocket aces, and was called to the river by two opponents, one with a str8 draw and the other with two pair. The two pair filled on the river, beating my threes full with jacks full. He called my river bet (but didn't raise!). So I went home only up about $15, where I could have been up about $75 had he not rivered his third jack. Annoyed? Certainly. But really, I was "lucky" to get pocket aces, "lucky" to catch open trips -- his "luck" just happened to be a little better than mine.

[Ginogino]

In a sense, there are no bad beats. To say that something is a million to one shot is to say that the unlikely event must inevitably occur (sort of like the infinite number of monkeys thing -- and I can still hear Bob Newhart on the subject). When he hits his one-outer for an improbable win, you've got to thank him for letting you win the other 97% of the time (you don't have to do this out loud). And when he fails to hit that one-outer against you, remember that you have to mentally set 3% aside in the rainy day fund for when he does hit.

I don't want to say that I've yet entered this zen-like state. When what feels like a bad beat hits, I get up and walk around for a while, and the above is what I tell myself. After a while, it works.

[CJC]

Called open trip threes with two pair.
Filled on the river and didn't raise.

GOTTA LOVE STUD IN CONNECTICUT

/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

CJ

[CJC]

You wanna here one better.

10-20 game the other day.

I have open trips on 5th. ( 777 ) my board.
I get into a raising war with another opponent. ( who happened to have rolled jacks )
Another opponent with queens and 8's called all that heat on 5th and 6th to make eights full on the river and beat us both!!

CJ