Bad Beats: What You Can Do About Them
Oops.
You're enraged, to put it mildly. And you almost sleepwalk through the next couple of hands because you're still thinking about that "bad beat" you suffered on that doubling opportunity that went awry.
So what can you do about it, to prevent the after-effects from happening in the future?
Well, one of the things you can do is to RATIONALIZE what has just happened to you. You know you didn't get beat because you weren't good enough, or because you did something wrong, but because you were beaten by horrible, awful luck. It is very important that you take the pressure of yourself this way.
INTELLECTUALIZE your situation. In games like blackjack, poker, even sports betting, where you have the chance to overcome house odds with skill, you must understand and believe that your skill can win out in the long run. An example - often the best player at the poker table can win out over the others over the course of time. Are you confident you're the best? Then don't worry about bad beats in the long run.
If you are a Basic Strategy blackjack player or a card counter - in other words, if you are very skilled - you know that things operate as a long-term proposition and that things work themselves out in the direction of the skill player over the long haul.
UNDERSTAND the pattern of events. You are going to win by way of someone else's bad beat as much as you'll lose by your own. No, the forces aren't against you. Maybe it will even have the effect where in future pots, those other players will "give" you more money when they think they have a winning hand, but don't.
If all else fails, maybe a good idea would be to STOP playing for the moment, take a break and get your head together while you take stock of the above methods for dealing with bad beats.
