Mental Game After a Bad Beat

[arda99]

We all know bad beats are part of poker, but knowing it and emotionally accepting it are two different things. What routines or habits help you reset mentally after losing a big pot where you were ahead?

 

[martDdart]

After a bad beat I take a break in total silence for ten minutes letting my mental focus get restored.

 

[christovam]

Ideally, one should assume that this could always happen, but in practice it is very difficult to maintain control of the situation. This is what sets the big players apart from the small ones.

 

[fundiver199]

I typically play 4 tables at a time, so losing a single pot rarely affect me that much. Instead I just focus on my other tables and/or future hands. I am a tournament player, and if I lose several games in a row, I might end my session early and take a break. If its just not my day, nothing is going my way, and I am no longer enjoying playing, then no reason to force myself to continue. Poker will always be there tomorrow or maybe later in the day.

 

[Mario7]

I usually 6-table at micro, so there is really no time to think too much about it. Sometimes I swear or something if I am sure if it was kind of pure bad luck, sometimes I am even not quite sure if it was a bad beat or my mistake. I leave it to analyse after the session. I am never shocked, I realise the variance exists and playing many hands it just has to hit against me from time to time.

If I start feeling uncomfortable because of loosing too much, I might consider to stop or to take a break. But it is never because of just 1 bad beat - rather a serie of bad beats or my mistakes.

 

[eetenor]

We all know bad beats are part of poker, but knowing it and emotionally accepting it are two different things. What routines or habits help you reset mentally after losing a big pot where you were ahead?

Jared Tendler "Mental Game of Poker" is an excellent resource. In the book the idea of being prepared before tilt occurs is helpful. Not tilting is a skill and it can be practiced before we even play.
Once tilt occurs recovery is very difficult by minimizing the occurrences of tilt, over time, we handle bad beats more rationally

 

[letpic]

I just got my Aces cracked by $J-4$ offsuit for a 200bb pot, and I could feel my ears getting hot. In the past, I would have spent the next hour 'hunting' that player to get my chips back. Today, I just took a deep breath and realized that player is my best customer—and customers occasionally get a 'free' meal.

 

[bremp555]

For me the key is having a small reset routine right after the hand. If I take a bad beat where I was clearly ahead, I remind myself that getting the money in good is the only thing I can control. The result is just variance doing its job.

Sometimes I’ll also take a short break, stand up, walk a little, or grab some water. Even a couple of minutes away from the table helps clear the emotional reaction so it doesn’t affect the next decisions.

In the long run, I try to view bad beats almost as confirmation that I played the hand correctly. If the chips went in with the best of it, that’s actually a good sign for future results, even if that particular pot didn’t go my way.

 

[tuitui]

I typically play 4 tables at a time, so losing a single pot rarely affect me that much. Instead I just focus on my other tables and/or future hands. I am a tournament player, and if I lose several games in a row, I might end my session early and take a break. If its just not my day, nothing is going my way, and I am no longer enjoying playing, then no reason to force myself to continue. Poker will always be there tomorrow or maybe later in the day.

Exactly! In multi-table play lost pot really loses its meaning pretty quickly as the focus is more on the overall picture and volume than on a single hand, or the focus can be turned to some situation in other game.