Poker Articles

I'll be the first to tell you that you can get better advice and writing from a better player. However, what I am going to discuss is not advice but observations. I have only been playing poker for 2 years, but in those 2 years, I have constantly studied and played. I have a job that allows me, as crazy as it sounds, to play while I work. So I play all day and all night every day. While there are a million better players than me, I have observed a lot.

So now that we are done with the mile long preface I will get into my topic. That is getting outdrawn also known as the "dreaded" bad beat. Its a common scenario, you are playing or observing a table. Long story short, money goes in Player B's QJo out draws player A's ATs. Oh, god then it happens, hide the women and children, blood has been spilled! Player A goes off with any of the following responses: "F this site", or "BS!" or my personal favorite "That's (insert poker site here) for you!". Usually and predictably this ends up with a verbal battle between Player A and B with the end result of Player A challenging anyone in disagreement to a "Heads Up" match "right now" as if somehow a match of high variance and low significance will decide who is the better player.

Now, if you are one of these players like player A, I don't mean to offend or disrespect you. However perhaps taking a step back and making an assessment of the situation is in order. The first and most important thing that must be realized is that getting outdrawn is an integral part of the game of poker. It can be likened to missing a shot when playing basketball. Dare I say, its normal? Now before you hunt me down and challenge me to a $5 heads up match hear me out.

Im not saying that getting outdrawn is nothing and its foolish to be upset when it happens. However I like to assess the situation before I tear at my clothes and prostrate myself after getting outdrawn. What kind of buy in or actual money are we talking about? Am I in a low buy in tournament or did I just get rivered on the bubble at a significant tournament? Was it really a bad beat? Was my A3 beaten by QKo, or did runner runner quads take me out? (Check out the P5's calculator) These questions I ask myself have caused me to change my personal definition of a bad beat. I view a truly bad beat as a heavily favored hand that gets outdrawn in a crucial situation with something of significance on the line. (What is significant is different from person to person.)

So does that mean its ok to go crazy if this happens to you? Well, that's your personal decision, I’m not going to tell you what to do. However let me share with you some examples. The first is about Michael Jordan. Back in the day during the early 90's, Michael Jordan was an unstoppable force and at the time was the best basketball player in the world. Being a die hard Knicks fan at the time, I learned first hand that it was impossible to stop Jordan. It seemed as though he never missed a shot. Fast forward a few years to 1996. After taking a year off, Jordan returned to the NBA, but he was different. Jordan missed a decent amount of shots. He also didn't drive the lane with reckless abandonment, since he was getting older. So what did he do? Instead of crying about bad luck or blaming officials, Jordan did not allow anything to get in the way of winning another title. In fact he led the Bulls to another 3. While Jordan was not the same totally unstoppable force, he was still a dominate player and won with a combination of sheer will and extraordinary talent. How does this apply to poker? Poker, while being a great game, is arguably the most brutal and frustrating. Its so brutal that most players fail at being long term winners. If one wants to be a long term winner, it will take the same amount of sheer will and determination along with your skill to do it. Crying over beats or letting them negatively affect your game will prevent you from reaching your full potential. It’s not easy to do, even some pros fall victim to it from time to time. However let me share my next example.

There are not many players that have the respect of the majority of the poker community like Phil Ivey does. Not just because of his talent but because of his professionalism. In 2003, late in the main event of the World Series of Poker, the tournament went very late into the night waiting for one more person to get knocked out, so they could stop and continue the final table the next day. There were millions of dollars at stake, as well as massive respect for the winner of this tournament. Not many players get to this point in their poker career. Most of you know where this is going. Long story short, Phil Ivey and Chris Moneymaker got all the money in and Ivey was in dominate shape. Moneymaker was drawing to 3 outs with one card to come and needed a miracle Ace or the last Queen in the deck to win. Phil Ivey was where you dream about as a player, about to get the chip lead heading into the final day of the World Series of Poker and then it happened, BANG! The Ace of Spades hit the river, giving Moneymaker the miracle hand and eliminating Phil Ivey. I personally cannot imagine how painful this must have been for Ivey. In fact, I would probably give him a mulligan regardless of what he did in response to this (within reason). So what did he do? He took it like a man and walked off the stage and moved on to the next cash game or tournament. While that beat certainly was crushing, obviously he did not let it negatively affect his game, nor did he embarrass himself by acting like a poor loser.

At its core, true winning poker is about a dedication and determination to make the correct decision on each and every street of each and every hand you play no matter what. This is way harder than it sounds, so hard that the majority of players do not know how or will not do it. It requires a ton of effort, study, natural talent, and being humble enough to be taught, as well as never allowing yourself to stop learning from or seeing your mistakes. If that's not hard enough, it requires an iron will and complete mastery over your thoughts and emotions to not allow losing or bad beats to prevent you from making the correct decision each and every time no matter how bad it gets.

Time will tell whether or not you or I have what it truly takes. But with all that is required to be a true winner at this game, who has time to cry and harp on bad beats? I don't.