Bad beat or bad play???

[luv_the_game]

Hi all!
I've been experiencing a string of expensive bad beats, and I just wanted to post a typical hand to see if I it is just bad luck or me overplaying my hands.
.25/.50 Stars NLHE.
I am in the BB holding Q /images/graemlins/heart.gif 9 /images/graemlins/club.gif. I have $75 or so covering the table.
All 8 players call to me and I check. $4.50 in the pot.
Flop comes:
9 /images/graemlins/spade.gifQ /images/graemlins/spade.gif2 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif
checked to me I bet $6.00
Folded to MP ($30 or so in his stack) who thinks a minute and calls, folded back to me.
Turn:
7 /images/graemlins/heart.gif
I didn't see any way that that card would help him beat me so I bet putting the MP all in. He calls.
River:
A /images/graemlins/diamond.gif

MP turns over A /images/graemlins/spade.gif 2 /images/graemlins/spade.gif to take it down. To be honest this was not a hand I even considered. I put him on a strong Q or the flush draw. I believe from his past play he would have raised with trips.

This is a pretty typical example of the beats I have been experiancing. If it is just a bad beat thats fine because I figuer it will work out for me in the long run, but I want to see if I may be overplaying my hands on some subtle form of tilt.

Thanks in advance!

[CrisBrown]

Hi luv,

I think you played it right. You set him all-in to chase his flush, and he caught Aces up. That happens. I don't think you misplayed this hand, but as for whether you've subtly tilted and are catching lots of bad beats because of it, this one hand isn't enough to say.

Consider this, though. When you're consistently suffering this kind of bad beat, it means you're playing well. That is, you're consistently getting your money in on the better hand. The bad draws will happen -- and they seem to happen in big bunches. I went on a wave of them for a couple of weeks that cost me about $600. If you're getting too too frustrated, take a couple of days off. Otherwise, just keep playing good poker and wait for the cold wave to run out. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Good luck,

Cris

[luv_the_game]

Thanks for the reply.
I'm not getting overly frustrated really. I just wanted to be sure that they really were bad beats not bad play. Good to have another perspective, especially since I am new to the game.

[bugstud]

it's not really even a bad beat, by that much. People love to call allin on draws, especially flush draws with a pair.

[Jared]

Rule
1) unraised pots are the devil. Be very careful because in these pots people are often more prone to overplay their hands. You can often easily lose everything in front of you playing top two pair in an unraised pot, I've done it many a time.

2) People enjoy calling all-ins with flush draws all the time. He has the 9 outs to the flush and the 3 outs to the ace, giving him a 12/46 chance to win the hand.

Bad play on his part but it happens all the time.

I wouldn't even consider it a bad beat just a playing hazard.

Jared

[luv_the_game]

I see your points.
I do expect these kind of things as par for the course. I am not steaming mad or anything. Just wanted to be sure that I wasn't misplaying. Thanks for the input.

[Guy McSucker]

Your play was fine, you just got outdrawn.

By the way, this is not a bad beat: on the flop, it's pretty close to 50-50 between your hand and his, and only a bit better than 2-1 on the turn.

This means that he is not making a mistake calling your flop bet.
As it turned out, he had just the right amount of money in front of him for you to make a play that costs him money: when you set him in on the turn, he doesn't quite have odds to call. If he had the same amount of money as you, you wouldn't be able to set him in (at least, not without overbetting hugely, which is generally inadvisable) and he would then benefit from implied odds.

Guy.

[1800GAMBLER]

Be happy your opponent played the flop awfully.

You played it fine.