My First Horrible Beat
 

I've had bad beats before but this is different. 2nd in chips i'm to the left of the chip leader and i'm 8 hands old at the table. I've been robbing her for chips. I raise up with two nines and chase everyone out except her. She calls. Flop is 9 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. She goes all in and I call. She has ace and 6 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and hits two clubs to send me out. The reason it was so horrible is that i was the fourth last to get KO'd before the final table - which would have been my first.

I feel a little shell shocked and don't want to play - any tips for putting a horrible beat behind you?

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

Get over it, really.

I got AA once, and I bet $2 pre-flop. Flop comes up A69, and some guy pushes all in for $4. I call, and he shows A9. I have him beat with AA, and the turn comes 9. Aces full beats 9s full. But you can guess how unhappy I was when the river turned another 9, giving him four of a kind.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]
Get over it, really.

I got AA once, and I bet $2 pre-flop. Flop comes up A69, and some guy pushes all in for $4. I call, and he shows A9. I have him beat with AA, and the turn comes 9. Aces full beats 9s full. But you can guess how unhappy I was when the river turned another 9, giving him four of a kind.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's a horrible story.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

is this a real thread?

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

It may not seem like much consolation, but your opponent is entitled to win this pot just slightly over 4% of the time, or more than once in 25 tries. Pretty low, yes, but it happens. And it will happen to you again (and worse) if you continue to play poker.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

Bad beats are part of the game. The problem is not letting this type of thing put you on tilt. To make money at this game you need the suck out players even if they take your stack from time to time.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

BAN

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]


That's a horrible story.

[/ QUOTE ]

How is yours any better?

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


That's a horrible story.

[/ QUOTE ]

How is yours any better?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would have said it was worse...

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

BBV is calling. Get over there quick....

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

McGrain:

This isn't meant as a flame to you, but rather some food for thought.

First, yeah, it sucks when this happens. However, it will happen all the time. Your beat was bad, but I think everyone here has gotten hit by runner-runner coming through. It happens -- a lot (I've probably done it to other players once or twice myself).

Second -- You got all your chips in with the best hand. That's all you can do in poker. Take solice in the fact that you made the right play.

Third -- And I only mention this because you said it's your first horrible beat, and this is a beginner's forum. Winning poker players get sucked out on. Losing Poker players suck out. If you're winning most of your pots by hitting the miracle card on the river, you have to rethink your game.

Fourth -- So, the chip leader commits a significant part of her stack against an all-in bet, holding an Ace with a weak Kicker and a runner-runner flush draw. It was a horrible call that panned out. You want to play with players like this.

Fifth. Ok, many of us get distracted when the chips we've mentally pushed into our stacks get cruelly stripped from us. If it's affecting your game, get up from the table, sounds like a good time for a bathroom break (especially since you've busted from the tourney). If you're still steaming, maybe it's time for lunch. Ok, it's your first time getting hit like this, maybe time to go home and take some time away from the table.

Finally, if you can't get over this, maybe Poker isn't for you. As I've said, bad beats are a part of the game. Good players get hit more than bad players. So get used to it or don't play.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

Nice post Ken. Good advice for us all. Cheers.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]
Nice post Ken. Good advice for us all. Cheers.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes. If the intellectual property belonged to me, I would copy/paste it verbatim into every bad beat post on this forum.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

If you think this is a bad beat, you obviously have not been playing long enough.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]
McGrain:

This isn't meant as a flame to you, but rather some food for thought.

First, yeah, it sucks when this happens. However, it will happen all the time. Your beat was bad, but I think everyone here has gotten hit by runner-runner coming through. It happens -- a lot (I've probably done it to other players once or twice myself).

Second -- You got all your chips in with the best hand. That's all you can do in poker. Take solice in the fact that you made the right play.

Third -- And I only mention this because you said it's your first horrible beat, and this is a beginner's forum. Winning poker players get sucked out on. Losing Poker players suck out. If you're winning most of your pots by hitting the miracle card on the river, you have to rethink your game.

Fourth -- So, the chip leader commits a significant part of her stack against an all-in bet, holding an Ace with a weak Kicker and a runner-runner flush draw. It was a horrible call that panned out. You want to play with players like this.

Fifth. Ok, many of us get distracted when the chips we've mentally pushed into our stacks get cruelly stripped from us. If it's affecting your game, get up from the table, sounds like a good time for a bathroom break (especially since you've busted from the tourney). If you're still steaming, maybe it's time for lunch. Ok, it's your first time getting hit like this, maybe time to go home and take some time away from the table.

Finally, if you can't get over this, maybe Poker isn't for you. As I've said, bad beats are a part of the game. Good players get hit more than bad players. So get used to it or don't play.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't feel flamed at all, i asked for advice knowing that most of the people replying would be ten times more experienced than me and that many would think it was a daft post. I like this advice.

I try to play tight aggressive, or at least that's how i want to play and after this beat I've found it hard to push my good hands to the max possible, but i've been better and you're advice has helped, so thanks.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you think this is a bad beat, you obviously have not been playing long enough.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean that this bad beat is a normal thing, or do you mean that i'm actually wrong to describe it as a bad beat? The reason i've called it a horrible beat is on account of the cirumstances - i had been placing consistantly in cheap online tournaments but had never made a final table and was very close in 2nd place for chips and seemed to have voodoo over the leader. Stinger!

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you think this is a bad beat, you obviously have not been playing long enough.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean that this bad beat is a normal thing, or do you mean that i'm actually wrong to describe it as a bad beat? The reason i've called it a horrible beat is on account of the cirumstances - i had been placing consistantly in cheap online tournaments but had never made a final table and was very close in 2nd place for chips and seemed to have voodoo over the leader. Stinger!

[/ QUOTE ]

Well the beat sucks, but it was just a run of the mill bad beat. You probably haven't been playing thatlong. Wait until you flop quads and lose when someone catches perfect perfect to beat your quads. But like someone said, don't get mad if you are all in w/ the best of it. Nothing is 100%, it were it wouldn't be gambling.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

yeah this happens to me at least 1 a week

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

happens every tournament lately....keep on pluggin' away.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

I'll use the other guys number since I am too lazy to look it up. Chip leader had a 4% chance of winning.

As a rule of thumb, I usually figure that I will need to win 5-6 hands where I am all-in in order to win a tourney. In other words, you should experience a beat like this, or worse, once every 5 tourneys you play. If this impacts your game, then find a way to understand that it is an expected part of poker.

My own worst run-in with variance was when I lost 4 consecutive hands where I flopped top set. That impacted my game, I went on tilt and proceeded to lose $500 at a $4/$8 limit game, hated myself in the morning, etc, etc, etc.

Here's what worked for me - I just rationalized that live poker must be rigged and played exclusively on-line for the next month. By the time I played live again, I had calmed down. YMMV.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

Haha runner runner clubs will happen once a day at least. Seriously, specifically the clubs. The other suits will happen as well.

Is there a thread where everyone gripes about their worst beat ever. Id love to read that.im probably the only one

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


That's a horrible story.

[/ QUOTE ]

How is yours any better?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would have said it was worse...

[/ QUOTE ]

Not really. The person had two outs and had to catch both to win. That's (2/45)(1/44) = .101% to happen.

So, honestly, I feel my beat was slightly worse.

Anyway, TC, you just have to remember that bad beats happen all the time. A friend of mine who plays loves to gamble his money on flush draws. At first, you can't stand those guys. You think to yourself "why can't he just fold, so that I can get my chips for sure?"

Then, after he calls your all in on a flush draw, and he doesn't catch his flush, you'll think to yourself "wow, 80% of the time, I'll make money off of this guy trying to catch his flush."

Also, it's a lot less risky to call a flush draw if you have two pair or a set, especially if you have some of the cards of that suit in your hand, you remove some of his outs, and remove all outs that match your two pair, since that will give you a full house.

For example, let's say you have K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and the flop comes up K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

Your opponent holds a flush draw, probably, so you push all in. He calls with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].

Now, notice that he has already chosen 4 of the clubs, meaning that there are 9 left. Notice also that K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] is not one of his outs. Further, you can see that his outs only hold if neither a T, a 5, a K or two cards of the same rank fall.

If you're interested in finding out the exact probability, then I'll figure it out later. But, as I hope you can see, you've removed so many of his outs simply by showing that, if he hits, you could have him beat.

Re: My First Horrible Beat
 

Thanks to everyone who posted. I think your advice has been mostly helpful. Since i've twice lost out to a set of higher trips than mine on 5th street (without having slow played them!) and handled it much better.

Good people.