"TILT" BAD BEATS ARE GONNA HAPPEN, DON'T TAKE IT PERSONAL, OVERCOME!

What is a Bad Beat? You have to first define the two words seperately.
Bad: having undesirable or negative qualities
Beat: come out better in a competition, race, or conflict
Tilt: When a poker players let their emotions cloud their poker judgement

Then look at the two definitions as one Bad Beat: Undesirable outcome in a race. Losing a hand that you are favourite to win as a result of later cards dealt creating a stronger hand for an opponent or rewarding bad play by an opponent. This causes Tilt, Tilting, often, when a player suffers a bad beat or a losing streak, they will go "on tilt."

Now that we have some background and definitions we will talk about what happens to cause a Bad Beat, which leads to tilt.

When people play a game with a reward like money, prizes, trips or any physical thing, it is called gambling. Gambling is considered a risk, so poker is gambling, wihich causes you to risk money. When a player plays poker they have to realize the risk of losing just as well a winning. You should not expect to win everyhand, no matter how good your hold cards are. The only hand in poker that cannot be beaten is a Royal and that is truly the nutz.

Now on to my Tilt-A-Wheel-Tale.........I started playing at home with family, seven-card stud, low-ball, and Limit Holdem about 10 years ago. I did not like limit because of the chasing and talked them into playing NLHE. I was constantly winning because I would raise, raise, raise. Then they got feed up with me winning from raising alone and started calling my raises. Then I had to learn to play poker, LOL. I decided to read some books and play live tourneys at a local bar. Most nights I would be sent to the rail in the first 20 minutes to 1 hour, or be blinded out because of being card dead. LOL. I decided to read more books and I realized I really only new what cards beat what and that was all. So, I read and joined poker forums for more help. I played with a guy we called the Professor and he would run hand simulations with me before the tourneys. This helped also. So about 2 months of reading and simulating, I went back to the Brick and Motar game and used the tools I had learned in the books I had read. I used position, betting style, reading players actions, pot odds and outs. I had it all down pat and was sent to the rail in the first 20 minutes to 1 hour. At this time I did not take losing well and every beat was a Bad Beat to me. Back to the drawing board!

Well now i was intrigued with the game and I love a good challenge. So, like I said back to the drawing board. I decided to keep playing the live tourney for a while longer. One night I had played an awesome game to take first place and I was hooked! I heard one guy say "Dang I lost to a girl!" and then the fight started. LOL. After that my mission was to be at the top of the leaderboard every week and I did.

Now to make a long blog short, one night I was again playing very well and making very few errors and I am dealt AA with 1 player to go for the final table. One guy says "Dang you at the final table everytime we play!" and that is when the fight started. LOL. He was a calling station and bragging how I would bubble and need a pacifier. I was getting a little hot and he had position on me and a mild chip lead. Let's call him "JC" for JunkCaller. Well I did a 3X BB raise and he was the dealer. He decides to go all-in and of course I called. He turns over 87 clubs and I think yes! way ahead of JC. Well before the dealer can deal the flop he was bragging and going on about how his hand was a slight favorite, because it was suited. I quickly corrected him about how I had two flush chances to his one. The flop comes Ah Jc 9c. Now I am holding my breathe. The turn was a blank and JC is like deal a club dealer. Well you know the out come of the river and I missed the final table! and then the fight started. LOL. I needed atleast one point to get into the monthly tourney with a bigger payout. Well I flipped the table and chips, drinks and sunglasses went flying. I was so made with JC, that I flipped that table and said so many curse words that the tounament director busted out laughing, then sent me out the door. I had a hard time asking to play, but of course the addict had to have her fix, so I appologized and he lifted the suspension.

During the suspension I appologized to all the players as I saw them later. I had to get my temper under control to master the game. I went back to playing online during the suspension and got more Bad Beats there than I was willing to accept. I took a break as instructed from the Professor. He said, the one thing I had not learned was patience. Once I learned a little patience then I could be a winning player. He also said you got the theory, now use them to your advantage. After the suspension I went back to playing live and again crushed the leaderboard and won many tourneys where I was the only women left. I was very proud of such an accomplishment and decided the Bad Beats could be mastered as well. I saw a lot of errors I was making and in live tourneys and you cannot go back and inspect your hand history. LOL.

HOW I OVERCAME BAD BEATS

I started looking at BAD BEATS as a way to be humble. To be a good poker player you have to take the loses just as graceful as the wins. I was a poor sport for so long and I had to change. I would not shake hands with a player that eliminated me in a tourney. I would not say good hand when someone sucked out on the river. I had to change. So I read a book by a Poker Pro and one of his theories was to be graceful with a lose as well as being humble with a win. This is the key to being successful and overcoming the BAD BEATS. This is not the only way to overcome BAD BEATS, but it is what I have decided is my best choice. I still think to myself<------"How did you make that call, moron!" But just to myself.

BAD BEATS as A Learning Tool


BAD BEATS will always happen, but take them and learn from them. Don't tilt your bankroll away. Step back and look at your play from pre-flop through the river and analyze the actions you made and the actions of the other player(s). Remember there are a lot of new players playing everyday and you where a Newbie at some point. Some callers believe they have the best hand with no pair, or hope to catch up on the turn or the river. You have to stop going all-in with less than the nutz and play every hand to win! X



BAD BEAT NUMBER 1,216,098,122 AND COUNTING

Bad beats happen day in and day out. Last month have been a little above normal and some days they are a little easier to take then others. Most days they can happen and be shrugged off with a laugh and other days they happen in numerous games - those are the ones that are a little harder to take.

This is a nice refresher to an old topic. I like your overall attitude, very positive, and there certainly is some wisdom in there. Taking losses personally is a sure fire way to continue losing and you have done a pretty good job overall. I do not agree with the whole poker is gambling theory, but what kind of world would this be if everyone agreed on everything all the time?

Nice job xpokerchic, look forward to reading more positive posts from you in the future.

I've heard a number of pros say that if you aren't getting bad beats from time to time you aren't playing poker properly. While in my mind I know that’s true, they still sting and often stay with me for a number of hours or even a day. No amount of telling myself over and over that I played a hand perfectly reduces the powerful feelings of disappointment and, yes, sometimes outright disgust. The same holds true when other people try to assure me by saying the same thing, even when they back their words with substantiating odds.

I’m been slowly coming to a place of actually accepting, as opposed to fighting, my internal emotional responses to poker outcomes. In the process of working this through, I realized that when I'm the person who lays a bad beat on someone else the opposite feelings of near euphoria stay with me for a number of hours or even a day too. My conclusion: I can’t have one without the other. My psychological nature is such that I will never be someone like Chris Ferguson, who is so objective his PR people had to tell him that when he won he had to show happiness for the cameras, nor do I aspire to be.

In the August 18, 2009 issue of Card Player magazine, Matthew Hilger addresses this issue directly in an excellent article titled “The Emotional Paradox of Poker”. His writes that “It is OK to get excited when you win a pot, and it is OK to be disappointed when you lose one—but just make sure that your emotions don’t interfere with your decision making.” I have a long way to go on that one but at least I’ve learned to take a break after a big bad beat, even when I’m on the winning end. The reason is I've learned in my case that extreme emotions either way lead to reckless play.

Hmm, one off the final table, and he has you out stacked ... I don't know how calling an all-in there is an "of course" call

Some bad beats, well.............................................. .............


They could just make you cry............................................... .

I think you can sort of tell when a bad beat is coming. Say you have queens or kings and someone keeps raising and raising. Odds are that they are gonna turn over aces. It has happened to me several times. Just have to fold sometimes. Pick your spots in other words.

Sometimes you can feel a 'bad beat' as it's happening and sometimes it blindsides you! If I feel it coming, I will cut my losses and go on from there. But occasionally, it has caught me totally off guard! Usually I do know that I played the hand I was dealt in the best way possible and would do exactly the same in any other situation. Still, I realize that even AA is just a pair and is beatable and if I'm going for a flush, I'd better know where that Ace is or I can lose!
'On tilt' happens...either because of the euphoria associated with winning a tourney or a hand; or because I'm upset because I wasn't doing well & don't recognize it for what it is! Or I allow things to interfere from my personal life & overlap into the way I play my game. Sometimes you just have to leave yourself a note that says "Are you on tilt?"!
Until I get much more proficient in winning in poker, I will participate mainly in Freerolls. That way, my losses don't cost me anything but time!

I have to disagree. I know this is a source of debate among poker players and that's fine. But for me, I play for 1st place, not to just sneak into the money or a better spot. AA is the preflop nutz and I would have shoved with it as well. I think Pokerchic did the right thing and got unlucky. It happens.

Exactly! I think most people can feel a bad beat about to happen from time to time and it's your gut talking. If your gut tells you something, most of the time it's right and you should listen to it. And yes, AA is just a pair, but all in preflop it's the nutz and never am I folding it preflop to a shove. With a raise and seeing the flop is a different story. I know most of the time having just a pair isn't going to win on the river so the most important thing is to not get married to your pair and know when to lay it down.