Bad Beats in Poker

Most of the time it is a hand that caught a miracle draw on the river and the player should not have been playing it to begin with. This is more common in low limit games because many players have the any two cards can win mentality. Many players will play any ace and a few players will play any suited cards regardless of the rank. Some players are calling stations that will enter the pot with marginal or terrible hands and then call all the way to the river in hopes making their draw. Occasionally they do make their hands and you suffer a bad beat. This is a fact that you must accept when playing low limit games.

A good player will suffer more bad beats because they are selective with their starting hands and most of the time they are only involved in hands in which they are favored to win.

Bad beats are a normal part of poker that a good player learns to accept. As sure as the sun rises in the morning you are going to occasionally get drawn out on the river. Not so affectionately refereed to as drowning in the river.

Some players complain about getting drawn out on in the game but limit Texas Hold'em is a drawing game. If it weren't you would be playing two-card showdown. You will lose an occasional pot to a bad beat from these players but their bad play will lose to your solid play the majority of the time. In the long run you will make money from players who constantly chase the inside straights or baby flushes.

Bad Beat or Bad Play
Before you complain about a bad beat, take a look at your hand that was beaten. Did you belong in the hand to begin with? Suppose you played a hand like J-9 off suit from under the gun and made a straight on the flop. It gets down to the river and you lose to a baby flush. You complain that it was a bad beat. The truth is you had no business playing that hand from under the gun to begin with.

Another reason that players suffer bad beats is that they try to get fancy by slow playing a semi-strong hand. This allows the other players to catch up. Don’t try slow play or try to get fancy. Bet the best hand if you have it. The straight forward approach is usually the best as there are plenty of players who will call you. Make them pay. Why give them a free card if you don’t have to.

Play aggressively from early position with the big pairs but realize that they won’t hold up as often. Some players feel that any time they have pocket aces and lose that they suffered a bad beat. This is not so. Pocket Aces will win the majority of times against a small field but will only hold up about 35 percent of the time against a full table of calling stations.

Avoid Tilt
Going on tilt is the expression used when players become upset and lose control of their emotions. Consequently they start making poor decisions and play badly. A player on tilt will start to play any starting hands and call when they should not. Many players go on tilt after suffering a bad beat. Letting a bad beat affect their play is one of the worst things that can happen to a player but it happens all the time.

They have lost money and are trying to make it back in one or two hands by playing overly aggressive with weak hands. If you find yourself angry or upset after suffering a bad beat then it is best to sit out for a hand or two or get up from the table and take a walk until you calm down.

Don’t Educate or Berate Bad Players
Bad players will account for the majority of the money you win at the poker table. Even though a player just put a bad beat on you the last thing you want to do is to educate him or berate him for his bad play. Educating him will only make him harder to beat in the future and berating him may force him to leave the game altogether depriving you of future profits.

Bill Burton’s website is: www.billburton.com