bad beats (interesting article)
While this is a sports betting article I think it's appropriate to poker as well it is a good read.
http://www.sbrforum.com/Betting+Articles/BETTING/4550/bad-beats-lucky-wins-get-over-them.aspx
http://www.sbrforum.com/Betting+Articles/BETTING/4550/bad-beats-lucky-wins-get-over-them.aspx
Comments
When you're playing against a bookie getting over bad beats is fine.
When you're playing against fish...
Smile and celebrate the fish hitting his one out!
Get them talking about the bad beat you just took.
Not about the 40 BB you won earlier.
Good players are in the Lucky win sale business.
The whole point of playing well is to put yourself in situations where the donkeys have to get lucky to beat you...
... And then laughing about it and making them feel good enough to repeat the process.
[Brag]
I got 1 outed at Brantford on Friday for a huge pot. I smiled and laughed everyone forgot that I was up $700.
[/brag]
I don't agree. When I am committed or all in (when bad beats or lucky catches are important) I am far more often the favourite in the situation then the underdog. I don't put myself into too many situations where I need to catch a lucky break (of course it does happen from time to time). I far more often then not have the odds in my favour so I certainly see more bad beats then I do lucky catches simply because of the spots I put myself in.
If you play bingo poker then I agree, random odds say you'll have just as many bad beats as lucky breaks.
A friend of mine and I disagree on what a bad beat is. Now if I get committed pre-flop with a guy and it turns out to be a race, then by the turn I am a massive favourite... but he catches his miracle on the river... I don't consider that a bad beat (my friend does). When we got committed pre-flop and the mental game ended we were in a race... the rest is just drama. IMHO that is not a bad beat.
I do certainly agree though that bad beats sure stick in your mind more then lucky wins so there certainly is the impression that you get beat down more then you luck out. It's the same thing when you threw away 9 3 and then watch 9 9 3 flop. Next time you will be tempted to hold onto the 9 3 remembering that one long shot flop and forgetting about the other 20 times you had it that you never caught a thing.
You do have to be aware of how your mind distorts reality.