It is as fundamental a part of poker as trying a bluff or paying the blinds. It's called a bad beat, and it will happen to you. Often. You’ll have stories of getting beaten against all odds so unbelievable you’ll have to tell every poker player you know. When you do, you’ll discover that they’ve heard them all before. Here’s what you should consider regarding bad beats when playing online.

Online Bad Beats

Do bad beats happen as often during online  Texas Hold em  as they do in live brick-and-mortar poker rooms? Evidence seems to suggest that they happen even more often. Why is this? In the first place, more hands are dealt per hour online. If you see more hands, you will see more hands that are statistical outliers. A poker odds calculator will tell you that pocket aces are going to win out over 7 2 off suit around 90 percent of the time, but that still means they are going to lose one time out of every ten. With all the hands that are played online, this scenario is statistically bound to pop up from time to time, but that is little comfort to the guy with the aces. Additionally, players tend to be looser online, whether it is because they fail to attach the necessary importance to money represented by numbers on a computer screen, or because they don’t have to look their opponents in the eye after making a ridiculous call.

How to Handle Online Bad Beats

Well, the good thing about taking a bad beat online is that you can scream and throw things without your opponents knowing that you are on tilt. This is not recommended, but the consequences are usually much less severe than if you try this in a live casino. What you must do when you take a bad beat is remember that in the long run, bad beats are good for you and good for the game of poker. If players who got their money in bad never won, they would quit and the games would dry up. The reason bad players are willing to show up to  play poker  on a regular basis and lose money to good players is because they do win from time to time. Even though it hurts to be on the end of a bad beat, remember that better players take more bad beats because they get their chips in with the best hand more often. In the long run, if you maintain your composure, you will come out ahead.

How Not to Handle Online Bad Beats

When you take a bad beat, if you cannot go right back to playing your regular  poker game , take a break. If every time you take a bad beat you begin playing recklessly, playing too loose or entering any pot you can with the player who put the beat on you in the hopes of getting revenge, you will not be a winning player. You must accept bad beats as part of the game, in the same way that you would if the dealer turned over ace ten in a game of blackjack. You don’t have to like it, but it’s no reason to deviate from basic strategy.

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