This is not a post about bad beats. It really isn't. I know it happens to everyone, but what I don't understand is how the better players deal with it. My online poker experience pretty much always goes like this. I play for a while really seriously and then go through a few weeks of bad beats. I get so down I stop playing for a while and then forget about it and try again. Then the same thing happens again and again.

This past weekend I have been on the wrong side of 95% of the bad beats. Just last night I was in about 10 games. Twice in sit and goes I was heads up with from 2 to 4 times chip leads. Between the two of them I got my money in 6 times for wins and each time I was a favorite. A few times a big favorite. 100% of the time I lost.

I was then in three big multi's and each time was in the top 20 in chips. One time my AA lost to 99 at a crucial time. The next time my AQ lost to A7. And the last time I was behind all-in with A9s vs. AT. Flopped an A and a flush draw so I look good. He goes runner, runner straight to knock me out a few tables from the money.

I assume all of the online pros go through this. I just don't know how you guys get through it. Any advice?

I played yesterday in a 5/10 NL game for a few hours and netting about 400+. Nothing special to speak up, but check this hand out:

Young guy, good player is in pot with asian guy to his right. The asian guy seems to be tight and somewhat passive but loves to slowplay hands when he makes them. Anyway, in this pot they are heads up and on the turn with a very scary board -- something like AAQx, flush draw, the asian guy bets $150, and the young guy raises to 300. The asian guy thinks for a while and mucks. The young guy shows his hand (first time he did it in two hours). It was just 44 (both black), so he bluffed and showed it, clearly to set us up for a later non-bluff bet.

On the VERY next hand the same two are at it again. This time the young guy raises the asian dude again on the turn, but this time the asian guy calls. On the river the asian guy checks and the young guy bets again. The asian guy calls and shows something like QT on a board like Q9642, so he had top, weak kicker. The young guy turns over... two black 4's for a set. Amazing that his setup lasted one hand and it was with the same two cards! No way the guy calls all the way to the river with TP weak kicker if it wasn't for the setup one hand early.

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Interesting hand from Poker After Dark. Matusow is always putting down opponents and criticizing them for not knowing how to play poker and trumping himself as such a great no limit hold'em player. In this hand we're down to three players -- Matusow, Negreanu and David Grey. I'm not sure of the chip stacks, but none of them appear to be too short-stacked. In the hand Grey is on the button and folds, Negreanu has K9o and completes his small blind, and Matusow makes a standard bet with K7s. Negreanu calls and checks in the dark.

The flop comes T87 with two hearts (neither player has a heart). Matusow checks his bottom pair. The turn brings an offsuit K giving Mike two pair and Daniel one pair. Daniel checks his top pair and open-ended straight draw, Matusow bets about half the pot, Daniel goes all in and Matusow instantly calls. The river brings a 6 and the straight for Daniel and Matusow is out.

Matusow doesn't lose his cool and is polite, but first complains that he was a 4-1 favorite, this always happens to him and he perfectly trapped Daniel and now this happens. It always happens to him, yada, yada, yada. He later tells Shana that he was a 3.5 to 1 favorite.

Well a few things about the hand. First, he wasn't a 4-1 favorite or even a 3.5 to 1 favorite. He was just slightly better than 2-1. Daniel wins with any 6 or J for the straight, a 9 for a better two pair, a T for a better two pair and an 8 splits the pot.

Also, what kind of trap did Mike set? He raised preflop with nothing special which is fine, but certainly not a trap. He checks button pair on the flop which actually seemed a bit weak and on the turn he bets about half the pot which seemed like a good value bet to get a call. It certainly wasn't some advanced poker trap. Of course he was smarting from the hand, but to say he was a 4-1 favorite and that he set a trap just seems plain dumb.

Thoughts?

I haven't watched much poker on television lately but do have my TIVO set for Monday's premier of season 3 of high stakes poker. God how I love that show.

I have recently discoved the weath of cool poker videos on youtube. A great one that I highly recommend is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4du3EAZoT4&NR

It's just one quick hand, but it's not to be missed. It showcases actor/poker player James Woods in not his most shining moment. Anyway, there's a good lesson to be learned from the video so be sure to check it out.


Another good one to see -- for entertainment value -- is a 3 part sequence from the new show Poker After Dark. It's a typical Phil Hellmuth blow up, but it's definitely one of the more entertaining ones. He has a decision to be made and the guys at the table continue to talk while he is trying to make it. It's pretty fun to watch them playfully egg him on. Check it out at:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kHkdjmssus

Notice that after the hand is over, Steve Z and the others egg him on further by saying that Annie had A8. Very funny stuff.