It’s Not Your Fault When Everyone Else Sucks

READ MORE: Bad Beats, Poker

Getting your money in the pot as the favorite with one card left to come is a good move, but why then does it fill us with a sense of dread? Maybe it’s that we’re growing tired of getting kicked in the junk every time some jackass wants to will himself a three-out miracle river. How are you supposed to handle your bad beats? Tom Leonard from Poker Player Newspaper encourages you to embrace them:

“A bad beat occurs when an opponent’s hand, that is a significant underdog to yours, “catches lucky” and winds up being the winner much to your chagrin. Now granted, that stings but you should begin to embrace this unpleasant occurrence…

“If some chowder head is drawing to an inside straight with one card to come against your superior hand, he is 11-1 against hitting his straight and is making a bad call by accepting pot odds half of what he needs to proceed. Here is the bad news…..odds of 11-1 against aren’t exactly like hitting the lottery. Sometimes even though these chowder heads take the worst of it, they will catch their miracle card and beat you.”

Easy for him to say, we’re sure he’s got a well-funded bankroll and is wearing an iron codpiece. He’s right though, take a note on the guys who chase slim draws and punish the shit out of them next time they want to take a gutshot to the river. You’ll get your chips back soon enough.

Embracing Bad Beats… [PokerPlayerNewspaper]