Bad Beats

Bad beats are poker hands that are extremely unlucky not to win a particular pot. For example, you might have four of a kind of Kings and lose to four of a kind of Aces. That’s a bad beat in anyone’s book, and if you play online poker for long enough, you’re sure to experience a bad beat at some point. It therefore makes sense to know how to deal with bad beats when they happen...

Bad beats can have a profound psychological impact on your game regardless of whether you are playing for pennies or thousands of pounds. Whilst the ideal solution to bad beats would be to brush them off casually as part and parcel of poker, actually doing this isn’t easy. That’s why many people who experience bad beats suddenly find themselves losing control of their self-discipline shortly afterwards – something that can result in them going ‘on tilt’ and overplaying hands in an effort to recoup their losses as quickly as possible.

Obviously none of us want to fall into that kind of trap, so how should we deal with bad beats when we encounter them? We have three simple tips that will prove very helpful in this respect, and they are as follows:

1 – Keep Calm
The first tip is to try and keep calm. Bad beats are random events and not evidence that an online poker room is out to get you. Had you been lucky enough to beat four-of-a-kind Kings with four-of-a-kind Aces then you’d be over the moon, so you shouldn’t really complain too much when the boot is on the other foot. Taking a few deep breaths and counting to ten will help you to keep calm. Offering a “very nice hand” comment to the pot winner will also help you keep things in perspective, because it obviously was.

2 – Be On Guard
If you experience a bad beat when playing online poker you should immediately raise your level of self-awareness as far as you can. The half-dozen hands you play after experiencing a bad beat are the ones in which you are most likely to let your emotions overpower your rational mind, so being particularly careful to play those hands by the book (see Poker Strategy) is a great way of avoiding going on tilt or otherwise playing in a way that jeopardises your overall chances of success.

3 – Take A Break
If you are someone who finds it impossible to keep calm after bad beats, or who finds it easy to rationalise overplaying the next few hands, the best solution is to take a break from online poker for an hour or two. We don’t mean switching from one online poker room to another, but taking a complete break so that you have time to put the experience in perspective before you come back to the game. If you really must have more gaming action, play some online casino games instead of poker for a while.

Bad beats happen to all of us at some point, but how we respond to those bad beats can be more important than the experience itself as far as the health of our bankroll is concerned. Keep our three simple tips in mind the next time your big hand gets beaten and you will dramatically reduce the risk of the bad beat turning into a real nightmare.