The Timing of Suck-Beats and Other Frustrations

When my KK found its way to the showdown, alas it was worthless. Man, the timing of suck-beats in poker is really amazing. Last night I was down to my last $15 or so after my second bad session in a row. I figured I had one hand to get back in the game, and I get KK. Great, I’m thinking. I’ve got a real shot here to win a nice pot. Congressman J.B, sitting on my left, raises. Three callers come to me, and I call (probably a mistake). The flop comes 8-2-x. Great flop for me! The House Rep bets out. The 4-seat calls and I call. The turn is an 8. Great! I’ve got two pair now, KK88. Will they hold up? (You know what’s coming.) The river card is a blank and doesn’t appear to help anyone. So I’ve got my eye on the nice pot, when the player in the 4-seat turns over 8-2 off-suit! OUCH! The guy calls a raise with 8-2 off-suit (only the second worst hand in Pokerdom) and flops two pair, then gets his full house on the turn. I’m toast, of course. And the Congressman turns over AK.

It’s not bad beats that rankle my nerves. It’s the timing. Most times when something happens like this you just shake it off and go on. But I really wanted to turn a bad session into something positive. If I had won that pot I might have gone home with a loss, but I would know that all was right with the world. Why did the P-gods choose this particular time to shoot another missle at me? Amazing.

Bad beats I can deal with on a regular basis. It’s the timing of those beats that really make you feel like your intestines have been ripped out and left for the buzzards to chew on.

It helps to write about it. I know what you’re saying. “Don’t tell me your bad beat stories, I’ve had my share. It’s poker. So get over it.” I understand fully. There’s nothing worse than hearing others whine about bad beats. It happens to us all. They are a big part of playing this game. And usually I can deal with it. But today, I’m on tilt. So understand if I have to get it out of my system. I rarely if ever write about bad beats, and bad beat stories bore me to tears and I try to avoid those who like to share them. Sometimes you just have to share your story. It helps. I'm reminded of the two men at the WSOP last year who set up a table and charged players $5 to hear their bad beat stories.

The issue I’m dealing with is the timing. It’s like a double knock to the system. Not only do you receive a hit by the beat itself, but the timing of the beat is a second knock to the groin. Had the same hand occurred an hour earlier, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But at that particular point in my day, at that precise moment, when the clock hit 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night July 8, after a nine hour session of ups and downs and beats, when you feel like something really positive is about to take place to make you feel like the day has all been worth it, you’ve been playing well and the results are not there but that’s okay because there will be days like this, the P-gods decide they are going to hurl one last salvo at the spirit of a player who was only praying for one small stack of chips to make the pain of a losing session more tolerable while driving home.

Before leaving I leaned over to the Congressman and said, “How do professionals learn to deal with this game? Playing day in and day out--the highs and lows and bad beats.”

“Well, they just learn to enjoy the game, the people, and learn to deal with it. You have to be patient in this game.” The Congressman leaned back in his chair and took a long deep breath while looking at his own small stack.

I enjoyed playing with the House Rep who serves our state in Washington. He told me he plays online for play money and likes tournaments. I told him I voted for him, but he still beat me out of a couple of pots with some nice aggressive betting. He would raise with top pair, some times having only a mediocre kicker. So when he and I were heads up with a J-x-x-x-x and I had KJ in the hole, I called his bets down. He turns over AA of course, and won a nice pot. I put him on a weak J, which of course turned out to be a poor read.