What's harder on you, Good hands not hitting or Bad Beats?

[RED_RAIN]

What is more frustrating. I did win the last two days but interesting hardships in each.

Day 1: 6 players to flop, I raise 55 on button. Flop comes 5d6d6 we cap flop 3 ways, 5d6d67d 3 bets on turn 3 ways, 5d6d67d4d making a one card straight flush, new donkey who has been cold calling all the action bets out, I call and other aggressor folds. He has the 8d for the goodness. Later on that night I also lost to another straight flush, weird. Or hands like you have 44 flop is 4AA, 4AAJ, 4AAJJ and you lose to A2 or even worth JT.

Day 2: You get AJ-AK like 15 hands in a short period, are against morons postflop in combo of good draws and don't hit and fold most of the rivers and ones you call you lose.

Which one gets under your skin more?

[bernie]

Neither.

I thought of this type of thing the other day, actually. What gets under my skin is missing bets or spots to bet to pick up pots or value. I get very pissed at myself when I do it. Especially when it costs me a nice pot. (like I did the other day. Twice. Adding up to about $700 in my 10-20 game. 2 simple friggin' bets was all that was needed. I took the pussy award on that day. Even though I made quite a bit that session, regardless. It sucked. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img])

I think it's a turning of a corner when you no longer are worried about hands hitting(eventually they will) or someone sucking out on you(you gotta love that. It means you're in a good game). Instead replaced by your own play being your target. After all, it's the only thing you have control over.

Just a thought...

b

btw..one mindset I've always liked is think of it like a craps or roullette game. Does a casino get pissed when someone is on a hot roll? No. It just quietly waits for it to turn around. Eventually it does.

[silvershade]

I think that for most of us bad beats are far harder to deal with, it's pretty easy to shrug one or two off but if they start coming thick and fast then I know I'm headed straight to tiltland. The only thing for it is to get away from the game for a bit of a cooldown.

I think a lot of people who tell themselves that bad beats dont affect them at the table are probably just in denial over the issue. The casino arguement is great for getting over the frustration but I doubt very much that most of us can actually avoid the frustration altogether if we suffer a particularly heavy run of really bad beats in a short period.

For instance I've been running good this week however yesterday I lost to 7 one or two outers in a 45 minute period, it was frustrating so I left the game for the evening. Today I can see I am well up on the week anyway and that those bad beats were just a short term aberration but if I'd played on at the time I would have tilted a lot more chips than I actually lost in the event.

[coffeecrazy1]

Bad beats, for sure...especially online, as evidenced by my dichotomy post.

Besides, I can still win with non-hitting good hands from time to time, if the texture of the flop is bluffable(based on position and such). Bad beats only happen on showdowns, which seems like an overly simple statement, but it's not.

[The Goober]

Day 2 gets to me more. I'm finally getting to the point where I can start to shug off the bad beats. Don't get me wrong, I still get pissed off like any body, but they don't nag at me. Its like when it rains on a day you were going to spend outside - I curse cruel fate, but it doesn't cause me to doubt myself.

On the other hand, big hands that miss always leave lots of room for self-doubt: maybe I pushed too hard, maybe I didn't push hard enough, maybe I could have folded sooner with a better read on the other guy, maybe I could have won the hand if I had bluffed my draw more aggresively. These type of doubts tend to nag at me more when I'm wondering where the hell all my chips went.

I agree with Goober on bad cards not hitting. Bad beats happen...but there's a sense that it's poor play *outside of your control*, whereas with good cards not hitting, you have control over that situation. After eight straight AK not hitting, I know I sometimes try to overplay my hand and "push," since I believe these hands that are long term winners should be winning. Usually bad beats mean a fishy table that will be profitable; good cards not hitting happens at good, mediocre and bad tables...and is equally frustrating at all.

-dustyn

[Songwind]

Cards not hitting bothers me more. So far, bad beats haven't been as big a source of irritation. Having a night when it seems like I can't make better than bottom pair - now THAT's annoying.

[AA suited]

bad beats are good!

that means you are getting in there w/the best hand. sure a bad beat might get you steamed, but this of it this way:

you're playing excellant poker by getting in there w/the best hand and you will make $ over time.

[Autocratic]

Honestly, I think playing badly is more upsetting to me. When I get bad beats or my opponent keeps flopping his ace when he has ace-rag to my kings, I know I'm playing fine. I may steam and need a break, but I am playing good poker. When I make a bad call and lose all my chips, I am kicking myself.

[Matt Williams]

Neither really bother me. But what bothers me is when someone slowplays aces or kings until the river even if they have a set. They don't bet or raise so you suspect they are chasing you. Then when you turn your cards over on the river, you find out you were behind the whole way.