Oh the Pain???

[DrawnOut]

Does a BAD BEAT always have to be an unfavored hand beating a slightly better more dominating hand??? My question is simple, in motive, I assume. I am a solid, experienced player, and in this experience I have observed, administered and received these so called "BAD BEATS". But, I recently started thinking these "BAD BEATS" aren't the worse, there are beats that hurt much more. That do more damage to a person's game** Before reading further, we should agree that the term "BAD BEAT"is being used in the conventional manner, i.e. (simply put) QQ vs. 27o ----- board: 2 J 7 3 9, this being a BAD BEAT for the QQ, well it is that definition, I believe I'm contesting.

**To explain, a couple of weeks ago in a local B&M 10-20 limit Hold'em game, our table was about to break, due to a tournament starting. Luckily, the 20-40 table lost all but three players who decided to migrate to our table. Our 3 seat was filled by a 30something woman, whom had a meak bankroll for 20-40 and a low/fair one for 10-20, around $200. The dismal tired look on her face, as I stared at her from the opposing seat, told a story of a night of busted straight draws, four flushes, getting outkickered and undersets. Simply put, (although I don't posess the ability to put anything simply) she was very stuck and you could tell. About a half of an hour later, the dealer from her old table hade made the table rotation to her new, and asked the woman if her luck had changed. She replied, "Well, it hasn't gotten worst" and got a mild chuckle from the super tight rocks seated around her. Two orbits after that she raised in the cutoff with about 150$ in front of her pre flop, with KK and lost it all to 6c7c on the BB which made two pair on the turn. Obviously a bad beat, however, the woman left the table immediately, and the dealer said, "That was a really BAD BEAT for her."

"That was a really bad beat FOR HER"....for her....well for anybody right.....67 suited is a dog to KK, yeah it's a BAD BEAT, but you see these beats in every session of decent length, whether it happens to you or not is irrelevent. Simply put AA does not win every time. For instance, if that had happened to me, it wouldn't have hurt as much, due to my bankroll and the way the night was going for me, and I know I can't win em' all regardless of the starter hands. Well I don't want to drag on ,but, a couple of hours later she returns, in much brighter spirits and chip stacked to the brim. Attempting the scared money rebuy with no shame and no fear.

Three hours later, she dumped another five hundred, not by bad play, not necessarily, there were a couple of hands I would of layed down, but by these so called BAD BEATS, she lost a big one to AA, holding JJ, on a A3J53, rainbow board, lost another to KK, while holding QQ, she also flopped nut fush to lose to perfect runner runner quads, obviously one she should have mucked, and many other suck outs and beautiful draws that came up short as she furiously, frustratedly and pathetically mucked face up. Now the majority of these hands weren't bad beats,she was a dog and going against obvious favorties for some, i.e. the AA vs. JJ she lost, well AA is gonna be JJ, but wow, no worse flop for her and no better action then that for AA, eehhhh she got nailed.

Since then, I've seen more of her, well, I never really noticed her before that lose-o-rama she suffered. Her game seems very timid now and tighter now. So after all that rambling my question is restated in a more evolved, specific form. Why do some beats hurt more than others, and these beats that hurt more than others, are these the TRUE bad beats, and by what standards or guidelines can you define them, do they hurt more or less, due to outside circumstance,the way the night was going, how much money you lost, how much your bankroll is, your style of play?? With all these ways to be bad beaten, if you will, how do these factors and consequences there of, motivate and change someone's game, and for how long? For instance if I lose with AQo to someone with Ad9d on a A694J board, and I bet the whole way and get just calls from this player, I would be kind of burnt, but if that player raised me on the flop and I called the whole way down it wouldn't bother me, to lose to that hand. This beat (were he just called me down) would now alter my play. It is examples and situations like this were I look to redefine BAD BEAT.

Please opinions and ridicule welcome. I'm aware of how longwinded that was, so please leave that out of replies.
My answer is a BAD BEAT is losing a hand you expected to win. But I hope someone comes up with something better and deeper. Thanks.
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[Mike]

I think bad beats go with your perspective. In any average LL game you can't expect to win more than 1/3 of the time if you play solid. So when you get beat they aren't really bad beats.

I know a 20 year player who hasn't had a winning session in five months! Albeit he only plays about ten hours a week, but every hand is a bad beat to him now. I have seen others complain and go tilt when their four flush doesn't make it 50 percent of the time.

In my view a bad beat is more an emotional issue than a card issue. Some people expect that life is fair and they should get their way most of the time. Others know that not all hands are equal, but you have to play what you get dealt.

[ripdog]

I don't believe in Bad Beats. I want people calling my AA and KK hands with small connectors and when they hit against me I shrug it off. Actually, if the person who beat me has made a huge mistake by calling in the first place, I'm happy. I'll have that money back soon enough, and the person who took my chips this time will have had a positive experience with their inferior cards. Short term luck is what keeps the games good. It's not a bad beat if you take the long view. When I hear complaints about Bad Beats, I assume that I'm listening to a bad player, or at least one who doesn't have a complete understanding of the game. Bad beats are a figment of your imagination.

[bob2007]

I really only started playing poker online in those freeroll tournements to begin with. Let me tell ya, after playing 20+ of these tournements with over 400 players in each, you learn that Bad Beats are just part of the game. You try to forget them and move on. NL tourneys has done this for me, you can go all in with A/A and get called by j/10 o and still lose, or even something worse than j/10, the fact is, poker is full of Bad Beats and when you give a Bad Beat, it's pretty sweet : ) athough you're yelling at yourself at the same time.

[ripdog]

Yes, tournaments do throw a bit of a wrench into my theory. I apply my bad beat theory more to ring games where if you get your Aces cracked by some moron, you can always re-load and get your money back (hopefully). That situation in a tourney could cripple you or worse, so it is tougher in tournies. That's why
I don't enjoy tournaments as much as ring game play. The idiots can cripple you with a bad beat and you get to watch them bleed your chips off to the rest of the table. I still don't let it get to me, but the effect is more pronounced (e.g.-you're screwed). That is definitely part of the game.