How do you defend against bad beats?
I know, I know, everyone gripes about bad beats. If I had a dime for every bad beat story I heard at our booth during this year’s WSOP, I’d probably take home a bigger payday than the winner of the November Nine.
However, the underlying complaint on many of those stories went something like this:
“How do I prevent a bad player from sucking out on me?”
“I did everything right! I got it all in with the best hand and STILL got knocked out by a donkey.”
And of course my favorite, “You can’t beat stupid.”
While most of these players thought they were telling me how bad their opponent played, what I’m actually hearing is how bad the storyteller played.
I can hear it now, “Huh? I pushed pocket aces against a guy that called me with KJ off suit, he made two pair, knocked me out of the tourney, and I played bad?”
Well it’s not quite that simple. But if you think the last hand was the only thing that cost you the tournament, then yes.
Focusing on the hand that knocked you out is the wrong way to look at the outcome of a tournament. The hand you had, and the hand that knocked you out isn’t indicative of your level of play, or your opponents. It’s all the hands and decisions that you made leading up to your elimination that determines whether you played well or not.
How do you beat stupid? How do you keep someone from sucking out on you? How do you avoid getting knocked out of a tournament by a donkey?
Simple. . .
Have more chips than they do.
If your poker strategy is to sit around waiting for the magic hand you can push with, all you’re doing is waiting to get lucky. First you have to be lucky enough to catch some good cards, and then you’ve got to get lucky enough to win with them. There’s no skill involved in that plan, and it certainly isn’t going win you many tournaments. That strategy is going to forever doom you to a life of minimum cashes, frustration, and rage against the whims of the poker gods.
A successful tournament strategy involves steadily building your stack by picking up pots with little risk. Going all-in against a bigger stack is something you should do as a last resort.
Attend one of our sessions and learn how to fine-tune your poker strategy. Poker is a game of skill. Learn the skills you need to help you defend against bad luck.
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