Bad Luck vs Bad Play

Ezekiel162

Ezekiel162

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Selective Memory gets all of us from time to time and it's easy to say "The game screwed me" when in actuality, most of the time, it should be like "I screwed myself when I did/didn't do this instead of doing/not doing that. This plain and simply is the rule of "Cause & Effect". Every action you take has a reaction. Technically, if a player could see everyone's cards till the end of the game there would(should?) be no card game they couldn't win because they would make the best decisions all the time. This is the reason for studying your own play to see how to close those gaps in your game so we can come as close as we can to being this "omniscient" player mentioned above.

Don't get me wrong. The thing called variance IS real and as mentioned in many posts proper BRM will not eliminate variance but it will help you survive it until you see brighter days. Even people using skill have to understand that when you take the chance of gambling, because of the factor of luck, that cards will fall as they, not always as u or I, see fit. We in turn use skill to turn that to our advantage...

When card dead do you sit back and cry and wait to get blinded out on your knees like a sucker and then bore everyone your story later. Or, do you go against your own nature and say well if I can steal the blinds just once per round from weaker players I can survive until I can take some serious action. Good players don't just wait for good hands to come, they might not, so they take well calculated risks when necessary until they do, even in tha face of danger.

When receiving a bad beat take comfort in the fact that these players that are grinning at you now are playing against the odds and that it eventually catches up to them. Seen it happen many a time. It may not give you much solace now but in the end things will work to your advantage from being a better player in general. Long range stats will prove this.

When getting a "cooler"... well... these things happen from time to time.:D

If the above situations "seem" to you to be happening all the time. Sit back, take a break and honestly re-evaluate your own play instead of the game's or other players to ensure you're not tilting. If you "think" not, take one (or even a couple..) anyway to see if things eventually change.

So next time you're complaining about the game's downfalls make sure it's not your own inadequacies that might have caused your unwanted results be it through action or inaction. In other words, use that useless time you've spent complaining for getting better to ensure the same thing doesn't happen again, 'cause if you can't, maybe poker's not the thing 4 U...

Thoughts...?
 
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WhitePanda

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Getting a lot of bad beats isn't something to be ashamed of, it means you are getting your chips in with the best hand.
 
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anthony c

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I agree with you guys but i fell like i made mistakes but the bad beats have been coming forever.Everyone makes mistakes but the last handS i played in every tourney i did not make the mistake and lost.IF HE GOT LUCKY HOW DID I MAKE THE MISTAKE?

I FEEL LIKE QUITTING POKER BUT I LOVE THE GAME SO MUCH:confused:
Thinking of switching to cash game or snt but i love playing for a reasonable amount of money and will have 2 play micro stakes 0.01/0.02 cause i never play cash games and have no exp.

whats the best site 2 play cash games?

My last few tourney hand were:
1st hand i had 555 on flop guy had 88 and hit set on river i lost 57000 in 1 hand
2nd hand believe it or not i had 555 and lost 2 a river str8 ok this was 60 40 on flop he had str8 and flush draws but how do i get away from that!!!!:eek:lost 24000 in 1 hand
My last hand i was bb and passive player in sb he raised from flop 2 river he had top pair with 3 kicker and i knew he bets with just top pair like he did and i had top pair 10 kicker and he hit river .THIS WAS 3 IN A ROW MY LAST 3 HANDS I PLAYED.

I just dont trust pokerstars every time i go broke like that its just before the money same patter every time:mad:
 
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Hardcorecake

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How aggressive are you? my guess if your hitting the flops with trips your probably trying to trap? That could be your downfall. I mean it really depends how you play the hand and how other is playing as well. I mean the 55s vs 88s who was the aggressor was there even 1? did you raise did he? If he raised and flop comes 2 5 7 he prob would think he is in great position. Lol an to be fair his 88s were dominating pre ;PTrick to getting away from draws is pushing pre or after flop. without knowing how these hands were played I can't say for certain but sounds like you defiantly could of won them or at least saved quite a bit of chips
 
Timmah120

Timmah120

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I agree with you guys but i fell like i made mistakes but the bad beats have been coming forever.Everyone makes mistakes but the last handS i played in every tourney i did not make the mistake and lost.IF HE GOT LUCKY HOW DID I MAKE THE MISTAKE?

The law of large numbers tells us that the "bad beats," or a down swing, can last a month or a year. It happens....It happened to me...for four months, I sincerely believed that my play got worse. Then I took some time off, returned to the tables with new confidence, and got back on my feet.

I don't play to support myself, I play because I love to, and if I can have an advantage over my opponents, I am going to study, learn, and practice so that I am confident I am not throwing my money into a slot machine. Also, the supplemental income is nice :)

I've learned that down swings happen, and they can happen for any length of time. Be patient :)
 
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anthony c

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thanks guys gives me some hope knowing it last that long>

i did bet the flop and got reraised with 2 5 7 flop and then i only called u right i should of reraised right there.It was the 1st scoop event on pokerstars but i think he would of called the flop and maybe the river thinking i have a7 on the flop but he shoved the river how could I fold the river with no str8 out there or flush only a higher set beats me and i could even beat aa or kings?

I get that alot that people over bet the pot (like 17000 and pot is 10000)and shove the river and i did not show that much aggression so he cant put me on a big hand and i think he would never bet the nuts or 3 of as kind like that and scare me off and i call with 2 pair and loose.IS THAT A STANDARD PLAY OR IS IT JUST ME THAT VALUE BET 2 SMALL TO GET A CALL?

SOULD I PLAY CASH OR SNG IS IT BETTER THAN TOURNEYS AND WHATS THE BEST SITE FOR THAT.U COULS EASY MOVE UP LEVELS WITH CASH AND SNG THAN TOURNEYS

TY
 
Ezekiel162

Ezekiel162

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How aggressive are you? my guess if your hitting the flops with trips your probably trying to trap? That could be your downfall...
...very good point Hardcore... When I took really bad hits from getting "coolered" I would start to play scared thinking in the back of my mind that my opponents will have hit something on tha flop every time. This made me start calling instead of betting/raising which in turn allowed the other player to have the odds to stay in the hand long enough to hit. Had I bet/raised originally a better player might/would have folded a while back thereby avoiding the situation from the get go. Now I have gone back to my original aggression (abc book type standard or even stronger depending on players...) and play at lower BI levels where if a bad beat/cooler gets me it doesn't affect my mental state/pockets as much. I play the way(standard) I know to be right knowing in the long run i'll be ahead, let the past bad outcomes go, and move on...
 
doops

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I agree with you guys but i fell like i made mistakes but the bad beats have been coming forever.Everyone makes mistakes but the last handS i played in every tourney i did not make the mistake and lost.IF HE GOT LUCKY HOW DID I MAKE THE MISTAKE?

OK, stop there. The last hand of anyone's tournament always loses. Sometimes it's a horrible beat. Other times, it's just a beat. If you consider whether you could have played it better, that's useful. Sometimes the answer is nope, played it fine. Also consider whether you waited until you were so short-stacked it was an easy call for a much bigger stack. And learn not to get that short-stacked. Once you are down about 10 BB or less, any play you make needs to be a shove. You don't have play-room and you want others to have a harder decision on whether to call.

Keep your sense of humor. And be polite. :D
 
doops

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...
When card dead do you sit back and cry and wait to get blinded out on your knees like a sucker and then bore everyone your story later. Or, do you go against your own nature and say well if I can steal the blinds just once per round from weaker players I can survive until I can take some serious action. Good players don't just wait for good hands to come, they might not, so they take well calculated risks when necessary until they do, even in tha face of danger. ...

Plus, it's a lot of fun to play aggressively. :D Just don't do it 3 hands in a row -- unless that 3rd hand is a monster.

I love it when, after I've been quietly waiting for ages for a playable hand, I come out playing aggressively to try to take down a hand and everyone gulps and folds. It really doesn't matter what I have, if the other players are at all observant. Unless someone else wakes up with a big hand, it's a relatively safe move. Just enjoy whatever happens. There's something pleasant about leaving a tournament laughing.
 
Diya05

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I think bad luck is when you get good cards and a terrible flop.
Bad play is when you're on tilt and you go all in for crap or something like that. When you just don't know how to play.
 
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I2jr

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Sometimes bad luck I say that accompanies the river when even the turn around we are winning with a good hand and on the river leaves the winning card that completes say a full a higher ladder etc etc, we can play the hand well and yet lose it On the river, then tmb clear is playing badly the good hand we have to sincerely play in preflop and leave it to the free abeldrio of what can come humble opinion
 
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Bad luck - when I have KK and guy followes my all in with Q8 and there comes QQ on flop. Imagine that. That is not bad play, it is a very, very bad luck. Do I need to mention that I lost right before the prizes. :(
 
Clark Kent

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:D You are right, that is really bad luck. There are people that play on luck and people that hope nobody will follow their all in/raise. Your case is bad luck. Bad play is when guy is raising me all the time with 23 and I call with AA. Hi lost by himself. I just followed his play.
 
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