In this article I am going to discuss the concept of looking beyond the bad beat. When you lose a big poker hand, the circumstances by which you lose the hand will dictate how bad you feel about the outcome. Being at the final table of a large poker tournament you might have the opportunity for a life changing win, so having to return to your day job, albeit a little richer but not nearly as close to your goal as you might have been, it seems a cruel way to end the poker tournament. When luck and not skill causes you to lose, it feels even worse.
Texas Hold’em poker in particular has risen in popular culture so that each tournament at even $10 stakes has in comparison huge first prizes. Someone has to win it and everyone has a chance if you know poker strategy to a level where they are not dead money. Getting beaten by a bad beat does seem a little unfair.
The timing of the beat is critical. Bubbling in 10th place in the WSOP Main Event means getting a good prize, but missing out on all the perks and endorsements that comes with being part of the November 9. Yes you have made excellent money in the tournament, but taking a beat at this point will really hurt. Other players who busted and lost their $10k buy-in might be mad at you for feeling this way but a bad beat is feeling bad about missing out on whatever you were aiming for.
Read the following quote from an article written in 2008 online. ”I was playing a cash sit and go a few years back now. I was doing quite well, around £38,000 in front of me. This had been sponsored by an overdraft credit cards and a loan, £24,000 all together. So I had won £14,000 so far that day.” In this bad beat article the player goes on to get busted by his opponent spiking a miracle Ace on the river. What makes this beat so bad?
His lack of bankroll management was a major factor. He had released money from credit cards and a loan, two of the worst ways to get credit (you should NEVER do this) and therefore the downside to losing a big hand was massive in terms of future debts and repayments over a long period of time. Consider that this article was written in 2008, that one bad beat could still be three years away from being repaid! Now, that is a bad beat! Any loss he was to suffer in this session was increased by the fact that there were such negative ramifications to losing. Losing a hand in any form would have been bad; losing to a piece of bad luck would be almost unbearable.
Looking beyond the bad beat I would say that your aim is to make each bad beat only about the hand itself. You should be exercising good bankroll management so you are still in the game if you wish, so you are unhappy only about the outcome and the fact luck gave you a slap. You should instantly recall a time where you got lucky and remember that there is never a good time to get a bad beat in Poker. You will very rarely be in a position before the river where you hold an unbeatable hand. Even if you are a 95% favourite and your opponent is drawing to a one-outer, 5% of the time they will hit it, and 100% of the time the miracle card hits you will feel awful.
The circumstances of the beat make it feel even worse, learning to cope with these emotions and then cast them aside and continue is vital to winning tournaments, maintaining and growing your stack in cash games. Perhaps more importantly, it will keep you enjoying Poker and not getting negative. Everyone hates people at the table who constantly moan about bad beats and calling for the card that would beat beat them, expecting to lose.
By Malcolm Clarke
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