Keeping Long-Term in Perspective
Anyone who plays poker long enough will find themselves in a situation where they’ve been delivered a horrible bad beat. Picture yourself holding pocket kings and flopping a set only to have the set cracked on the river by some dumbass who called your flop and turn raises for a runner-runner straight. And it’s all too easy to get mad at the person who delivered the bad beat while calling them every name in the book. However, you’ve got to keep the long-term in perspective after these things happen because I’ve had friends who quit poker over this stuff.
The most important thing to remember is that you are the one making the correct play in this situation and the other person is the one messing up. Sure they may have walked away with a huge pot after cracking your set with an extremely lucky hand, but the long run won’t see them get so lucky. In fact, people who try this stuff over and over again normally find themselves out of a bankroll eventually. And it is players such as these who will provide you with the most money over the course of your poker days.
One thing I like to keep in mind when plays like this happen is that the bad beat deliverer is just a carbon copy of the person I took $100 off of the day before or the person I’ll take $100 the next day and the day after. When a bad beat like this occurs, it’s just the luck of poker evening things out. But in the long-term those who make the correct plays and spend time studying strategy will be the ones who wind up as true winners.