How to Deal with Bad Beats

We have all had them and we have all heard about them from other players. How you deal with bad beats has a lot to do with how successful you can be playing poker.

Players who let their emotions get the better of them make big mistakes. We have a guide with some pretty good tips in it:

Dealing with Bad Beats

Do you have other tips for players on how to handle bad beats?

Here is mine:

Focus on the hands that you play well - regardless of whether you win them or not. Make a note of the hands that you are unsure of or know you played poorly and review them later.

The last thing you need to focus on is losing a hand because of a bad beat. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from that.

Thank you very much for this article, I think all the players have bad beats.
I think this article will help some players, that when they lose with a bad beat, they think that the online poker rooms are rigged.
In CC I have seen some posts of players crying because they have had some bad beats, and they have lost their money, and they think that the poker rooms have something against them.

gl all

Good article !

I have always tried to look at the game and worry about what I can control, everything that comes after that is the randomness of the game. There is always room to improve our own decisions ... No Limit Texas Holdem a game that takes a few mins to learn and a lifetime to master

Oh and Marijuana !

Let it go! let it go! bad beats are part of the game that's old news its best to stay focus and keep focus on your game and just expect not to run bad after that bad beat. its just the variables of the game you can't Stop! its the biggest factor variables

Debi said:

Here is mine:

Focus on the hands that you play well - regardless of whether you win them or not. Make a note of the hands that you are unsure of or know you played poorly and review them later.

Click to expand...

This is a excellent tip! I would just add that the emotions should be kept to a minimum and try to control them. Every time after the "killer river" I get up from the table for a few minutes. I smoke a cigarette and "let the water out" :toilet:

My advice would be, forget the bad play and learn why you lost, focus on recovering, I know it is difficult to recover the rhythm after a blow, but you always have to be positive, .... once I read in a poker article that the best teachers are the bad plays, The Bad Bets are obligatory lessons...

A bad beat is rarely what it appears to be. If you review the hand there is probably a better way to have played it.
Bad beats whether they are perceived or genuine lead to tilt. I advise you step away from the session till you have calmed down.

Keep getting back up persevere by freerolls even if necessary.
Never stop fighting:boxing::boxing::boxing:

Debi said:

Here is mine:

Focus on the hands that you play well - regardless of whether you win them or not. Make a note of the hands that you are unsure of or know you played poorly and review them later.

Click to expand...

Each game has its own meaning. It is impossible to fully calculate the actions of the RNG in each game or hand. Your notes won't help you. I guess I'm the first one who dared to argue with you.

Debi said:

The last thing you need to focus on is losing a hand because of a bad beat.

Click to expand...

In poker, the law of small numbers up to 22 Bain-in. In MTT it is the law of large numbers. Comparability does not play. Only plays the actions of your opponents and your logical thinking about the admissibility of a favorable outcome for you.

Debi said:

Here is mine:

Focus on the hands that you play well - regardless of whether you win them or not. Make a note of the hands that you are unsure of or know you played poorly and review them later.

The last thing you need to focus on is losing a hand because of a bad beat.

Click to expand...

These are thousands of variants of getting into the required numbers. It takes a lot of time and action in one game session. You have it? No. You are deprived of the opportunity to limit the game starting chips. We'll argue and subtract the chances of success further?

It's the challenge of life, DO your best, enjoy the journey, BE your best version every day and, in the end, accept the result, even because you never lose, or wins or learns, and both will make you the winner.

Step 2: catch your breath. Very important. Breathe deep, and control the pressure.
Step 4: Get Logical.
I've learned this from a few months back. If I had the most profitable and correct decision at the time, I will not mind the outcome. It's hard to understand that, but things have become lighter when I get a bad beat.

The biggest thing I've learned regarding handling bad beats is to have a truth understanding of variance and odds of winning.

It's so easy to think that when we're an 80% favorite, or a 95% favorite that we are a 100% favorite (that's how our ego sees it, oh "that's MINE", wtf why did I not get it) and thus the reactions come when we don't get want we think is rightfully ours

And the less savvy people are with variance the more extreme this can be with reactions coming from losses where the player is a 52% favorite or in some cases even an underdog (I can't believe my Ace King lost to a lowly pair of twos!?)

Starting to get comfortable with this, and then ensuring we're not playing with more money than we should (because money and emotions are strongly correlated) are the approaches I've found to be the most helpful when dealing with bad beats.

Debi said:

We have all had them and we have all heard about them from other players. How you deal with bad beats has a lot to do with how successful you can be playing poker.

Players who let their emotions get the better of them make big mistakes. We have a guide with some pretty good tips in it:

Dealing with Bad Beats

Do you have other tips for players on how to handle bad beats?

Here is mine:

Focus on the hands that you play well - regardless of whether you win them or not. Make a note of the hands that you are unsure of or know you played poorly and review them later.

The last thing you need to focus on is losing a hand because of a bad beat. There is absolutely nothing to be gained from that.

Click to expand...

More seriously, don't lose it, its easy to tilt at this point and that could mean the end of the good times as well as your bankroll...

live to fight another day...

but don't be too hard on your self... you are in charge of your limits... be strict

I've had to copy the text from a previous post to this thread , I counted the previous one in my June forum Challenge Tasks having read through the tasked threads and making the contribution the tread was deleted...

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/learning-poker-57/how-deal-bad-beats-430505/post-5200321.html

okeedokalee said:

A bad beat is rarely what it appears to be. If you review the hand there is probably a better way to have played it.
Bad beats whether they are perceived or genuine lead to tilt. I advise you step away from the session till you have calmed down.

Click to expand...

I just had 1 that makes me so mad, in the way that I feel like the villain had advance knowledge of what the result would be. I was in a william hill freeroll ( yes, I know, ultimate donkfest), but we were playing for almost 2 hours, 90 ppl make the money, and 120 left. I get AA in early position, I have 167K, BB is 3600. I raise 3 BB. Villian reraises to 30k. I go allin, he calls the 130k or so, for about 95% of his stack. He has Q2, flops a Q, turns a 2, and I waste 2 hours of my day

When I first starting playing , bad beats would really make me angry , and I would get really disgusted.
But after a few months , then it doesn't fizz anymore.
I am pretty much at the last stage of "acceptance "

- now I just accept it as it is part of poker. No one likes to lose , but bad beats are hard to take no matter when or how.

The ones that get me are the "splits" , if you bring up the last hand feature and check on how and why the hand was split and the next time it happens with much the same hand - that to me is worse then a bad beat as I have seen splits that should Not been split if you want to refer back to others .
But again , what do I know .... again it is just poker.

If I have had a particularly bad beat and have next to no chipsleftt - of course I shove on the next hand ! Otherwise the blinds will do it for you.
So, for me it is the only chance I have left .

Conclusion :
Every hand is a lottery and a gamble !

Thanks for the article bad beats as i.m sitting reading this i.m playing a sit n go getting it in with aces watching them get beat by 62 all in pre- flop ...lmao but still like article

Close eyes after all in.
And hide table if its possible.

great article the ways i've dealt with bad beats have included breaking several headphones, food splattered on the wall, screaming into a pillow, and punching holes through the wall all of which aare not ideal ways to handle bad beats

after a bad beat the best thing you can do is keep playing, you can not stop thinking about that

Good article.

The best advice is the simplest of all: it's just poker.....

We can't change the outcome. Of course, as the article mentions, bad beats happen both ways. We suffer these situations, but we throw bad beats to our opponents.

That's poker!

marcumx said:

great article the ways i've dealt with bad beats have included breaking several headphones, food splattered on the wall, screaming into a pillow, and punching holes through the wall all of which are not ideal ways to handle bad beats

Click to expand...

lol , We actually have a hole in the wall upstairs where my hubby's desk top used to be ( he pounded the wall that hard ) ,and while I am working, I can still here him while I am upstairs , he is swearing , yelling at the laptop and pounding on the chair , stomping on the floor and this is from Bad Beats in his online Golf Game !!!!
So, it is not just poker that does this to us !!!

I have been on an awful bad beat streak for years now and it's particularly bad online. 2 outers, 3 ours, miracle flops, odds irregularities and just plain bad luck. No matter how good I play, the odds always seem to be against me. I have read a lot about beats and beat streaks, they happen. I feel like as long as I play well and continue to do the right things, the streak will end and eventually profit will be in my favor... I hope. The game has changed so much since I have started playing. Starting hands are much looser and the overall game play seems to be more luck of the draw rather than calculated risks. I always expected to profit from these types of players, however, it seems that the frequency of this type of play has increased, making it harder to be consistent.