The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

It may seem counter-intuitive, but when you're gauging whether or not you played a good game of poker, you shouldn't focus so much on the results. You could have played the best poker of your life, and wind up dead last. It may not be fair, but as the expression goes: Thaaaaat's poker!

Because luck plays a big factor in the game, your overall skill isn't enough to win. The cards do eventually have to co-operate and you can only get away with so many deceitful bluffs and blind stealing. If you get a cold deck of cards for extended periods of time, your chips will dwindle. And if you are the victim of a bad beat, well, what can you really do about it?

I remember a hand I played a few years ago at my first tournament that I hosted, where I had pocket Aces and needed to make a move as I had a very small stack of chips remaining. When you see Aces, especially in that predicament, the weight of the world comes off your shoulders, as you have the best starting hand you can possibly get. Guess what happened? I got called by Ace-10, which is one of the better scenarios you can come across as you become an over 90% favourite with your Aces. Well, the flop produced two tens and I was gone. What can you do? I put my hand in with the best of it, got outflopped, and was sent to the rail.

But if the same scenario presented itself, I'd do it again. You have to endure these bad beats once in a while and you can't win every hand you play. In the long run, don't look at the fact you didn't win the game that night. Look at the fact you played some good poker and you will be rewarded more times than not later on in the future.