Temperament and Dealing With Bad Beats

Asho28 · July 2020

Evening all,

Just curious to know how other members dealing with bad beats or beats resulting from poor play.

Here is a hand from an earlier 2p/4p cash game:

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
Asho28	Small blind		£0.02	£0.02	£12.46
The_Chris	Big blind		£0.04	£0.06	£3.90
	Your hole cards	K K
KG7	Call		£0.04	£0.10	£1.33
alexpride0	Fold
onetobeat	Raise		£0.18	£0.28	£6.87
Asho28	Raise		£0.60	£0.88	£11.86
The_Chris	Fold
KG7	Fold
onetobeat	All-in		£6.87	£7.75	£0.00
Asho28	All-in		£11.86	£19.61	£0.00
Asho28	Unmatched bet		£5.43	£14.18	£5.43
Asho28	Show	K K
onetobeat	Show	J A
Flop
		3 J J
Turn
		9
River
		J
onetobeat	Win	Four Jacks	£13.11		£13.11

My opponents play can be described in the politest way as 'loose'. I don't know the full pot odds, but I'm probably around 75% chance of winning that particular hand. It seems at the moment I'm losing 75% of these pots instead. Don't think I can play the hand any differently.

After that hand, I ended up having a grumble in the chat box and then promptly stepped away from the table. I suppose it's only 2p/4p and you get that sort of play at this level, but it's frustrating when something like that happens. I guess if it's going to happen, it's the best level to be at.

For the avoidance of doubt, this is not a post for me to rant about the RNG or bemoan my luck. I am probably one of the more younger and inexperienced members of the Sky Poker Community and I am prone to tilting on occasions, so I want to try and learn how to "brush it off" and move in. Is it as simple as just stepping up and taking a break?

I want to be in a position where I can have a beat like the above and just laugh it off, so interested to know how other people deal with such beats or a bad run of beats and it there are any techniques I can use to keep my temperament at the required level.

Many thanks,

Asho

memfno · July 2020

Ok, its not like he called with AJs, he beat the rest of the table into the pot and might be described as attacking the money, he may have come to a conclusion (incorrect in this case i know) that you were raising wide. He may think he has a chance of a preflop fold out of you, obv not with your holdings, but he doesn't know that. This is not even a bad beat to me, this is just poker.
The hands that really do my head in are when you shove with your big hand, and your opponent calls your 30+ big shove for their tournament life/their table roll, with Q8s, and get there. Thats the ones that has me spitting feathers

Doooobs · July 2020

You shouldn't spread negativity by moaning about your beats, that is a given. A worse mistake is leaving the table after someone has just done that to you. Stepping away from the table and taking a break seems a terrible way of dealing with the beat, buckle up and reload.

I know it is hard, but you got it in best, this result doesn't matter in the long run. All your profit comes from bad play in that long run. Say it over and over til it sinks in. Next time stay seated. You don't need to laugh it off, losing money hurts, but you just need to get over it quicker. Maybe on the 4th or 5th you can get up and leave, we are all human, but please don't do it on the first one.

Tikay10 · July 2020

@Asho28

You just need to get used to it. No matter how long you play, or how many tables you play, bad beats will occur every night. They just will, & no amount of gnashing of teeth will change that.

Get used to it, & when you do, you'll enjoy your poker far more.

Yes, they are frustrating, in the same way an angler gets cross when he loses a fish that was on his hook, but that's part of the game.

Asho28 · July 2020

memfno said:
Ok, its not like he called with AJs, he beat the rest of the table into the pot and might be described as attacking the money, he may have come to a conclusion (incorrect in this case i know) that you were raising wide. He may think he has a chance of a preflop fold out of you, obv not with your holdings, but he doesn't know that. This is not even a bad beat to me, this is just poker.

I probably misused the term "bad beat" in this instance, but hands where you're 75%+ to win.

I suppose they could've seen it as a bluff from me, although I question why they would go all in for nearly 200 BBs

Asho28 · July 2020

Doooobs said:
You shouldn't spread negativity by moaning about your beats, that is a given. A worse mistake is leaving the table after someone has just done that to you. Stepping away from the table and taking a break seems a terrible way of dealing with the beat, buckle up and reload.

I know it is hard, but you got it in best, this result doesn't matter in the long run. All your profit comes from bad play in that long run. Say it over and over til it sinks in. Next time stay seated. You don't need to laugh it off, losing money hurts, but you just need to get over it quicker. Maybe on the 4th or 5th you can get up and leave, we are all human, but please don't do it on the first one.

Apologies, I didn't mean this to spread negativity. I just want to know how more experienced players deal with being on the wrong end of such a hand. I hope it doesn't come across as a moany post because that wasn't my intention.

I'll be sure to stay seated next time, take my punishment and try again.

Asho28 · July 2020

Tikay10 said:

@Asho28

You just need to get used to it. No matter how long you play, or how many tables you play, bad beats will occur every night. They just will, & no amount of gnashing of teeth will change that.

Get used to it, & when you do, you'll enjoy your poker far more.

Yes, they are frustrating, in the same way an angler gets cross when he loses a fish that was on his hook, but that's part of the game.

100% Tikay, I've only been on Sky for just under two months and they've been thoroughly enjoyable times. I've met some great people so far and it's a great environment to play poker in.

Once I mature (in poker terms) and learn how to deal with the beats and disappointment, I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more!

freeatlast · July 2020

As somebody who has just been knocked out of early bounty hunter when my pocket kings all-in was called with 6/7 suited and they managed to get a full house!! I feel your pain, but as a few other people have said it it’s just the luck of the draw, in fact that was just a freak hand, and you still had a slight chance up until the river, would you had still been upset if he just hit an ace and not 3 jacks?

kapowblamz · July 2020

The best thing you can do is try spin ups instead. It will give you some perspective.

Asho28 · July 2020

freeatlast said:
As somebody who has just been knocked out of early bounty hunter when my pocket kings all-in was called with 6/7 suited and they managed to get a full house!! I feel your pain, but as a few other people have said it it’s just the luck of the draw, in fact that was just a freak hand, and you still had a slight chance up until the river, would you had still been upset if he just hit an ace and not 3 jacks?

@freeatlast I think it was more shoving nearly 200BB in with AJ, which was clearly getting beat. I suppose I shouldn't be getting annoyed about that, as we'd take that vs our KK every day of the week. The community cards that were revealed were what they were, I guess it's just the ugly side of poker that we sometimes have to take on the chin and move on.

Like you said, it's luck of the draw sometimes - no matter how you well you play the hand, if the cards aren't in your favour then there's nothing we can do; that's the way the game goes.

Discussing it on here has made me feel a lot more resilient to tilt and getting irked by these sort of hands, so next time a scenario like this happens I'll just brush it aside and move on to the next hand.

Asho28 · July 2020

kapowblamz said:
The best thing you can do is try spin ups instead. It will give you some perspective.

@kapowblamz Never really tried spin-up tables, although I understand the concept of them. I think they would probably grind my gears even more to be honest, but I might give it a spin (pardon the pun) and it could make me see things from a different perspective like you said.

PKRPar · July 2020

I think it hurts more when deep in a tourny. Moments like pp v pp and you lose can make or break tournaments. It used to really frustrate me, but after doing some studying and trying to get better, you quickly realise its just poker. Now i just go nooooooooooooooo, then move on.

Either accept it and try and get it in good or play chess where there is no luck

Welcome to the forum too, stick around

EDIT: i should add that you should also enjoy the times you suckout on someone else, and remember those times when it doesn't go well when you get it in good.

sighcall · July 2020

Watching this helped me understand variance and therefore reduce tilt when on a downing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eXxk99yy5A

Asho28 · July 2020

PKRPar said:
I think it hurts more when deep in a tourny. Moments like pp v pp and you lose can make or break tournaments. It used to really frustrate me, but after doing some studying and trying to get better, you quickly realise its just poker. Now i just go nooooooooooooooo, then move on.

Either accept it and try and get it in good or play chess where there is no luck

Welcome to the forum too, stick around

EDIT: i should add that you should also enjoy the times you suckout on someone else, and remember those times when it doesn't go well when you get it in good.

@PKRPar - yeah I can imagine it hurts more in the latter stages of tournies. PP v PP doesn't really bother me - if I lose the hand or am resorting to a 2-outer, then it's what it is. It's a bit different to the hand I exampled above, though, where my opponents jams a hand that's never winning and one that 99% of people wouldn't shove all in with nearly 200 BBs.

I did have a few suckouts go in my favour in a couple of tourneys last night, although these were hands where I had to jam, rather than the one above which, in my opinion, didn't need to be jammed.

At the end of the day, it's the variance aspect of poker that I need to learn to acknowledge and cope with.

P.S. I'm useless at chess..

Asho28 · July 2020

@sighcall - thanks for sharing that, found it insightful and shows how much of a complex and statistical game poker is. As I alluded to in the above comment, the variance is definitely the key factor I need to understand going forward.

MAXALLY · July 2020

Congratulations on taking down the FTT League last night (unofficial, but I have reliable contacts

)

~~Moaned it in.~~ Variance is a wonderful thing some times huh. Well played.

Asho28 · July 2020

@MAXALLY, thank you - that is indeed correct. Was treading water with less than 10BB for about half an hour at one point in FTT tourney 1, but got some fortunate spots and lucky double ups (hands where I was correct to go all in but needed to hit cards) and fluked the win. Ran fairly well in the other two as well.

Variance is indeed a wonderful thing, although it can be horrible in equal measure... and it's the horrible side I need to learn how to deal with.

glencoelad · July 2020

Hi Ash, I highly recommend the Mental game of poker book by Jared Tendler ,this helped me with Tilt/ anger. Once that issue is easier to cope with the enjoyment of Poker lasts longer, cheers and GL.

Asho28 · July 2020

@glencoelad - thanks for the recommendation, I'll be sure to take a look.

TheEdge949 · July 2020

To answer your original question Asho I find that I either just write them up as part of the game or I embark upon a rage filled mouse throwing, laptop wrecking, angst riddled rant against life, God and all things poker.

Guess which option allows me to continue to play and function normally?

As a side note its odd that I never get rattled by outrageous beats when playing live only ever online.

Maybe that says more about me than I would like.

Love life buddy.

Mark

Temperament and Dealing With Bad Beats

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