play poker<\/a> seriously. What people often consider to be \u2018bad beats\u2019\u2014like getting all-in losing to a two or three outer\u2014are common occurrences, the loser rarely being a big enough favourite for the beat to be considered extraordinary. I understand why people get frustrated after suffering a brutal beat but I don\u2019t understand the numerous eruptions and complaints you see from some players, acting like they\u2019ve never lost a hand before. It\u2019s even worse to lose your cool if you\u2019re still in the game, which happens often in tournaments.<\/p>\nI reminded myself of that after my most recent bad beat at the WPT Championship final table at the Borgata. I entered the final table in fifth place, but drew a good seat and felt confident about my chances had everything gone smoothly. I won the first hand at the table and was sitting in fourth place an orbit later when I played a big pot against Carlos Mortensen.<\/p>\n
The first player to act limped for 40,000 and holding pocket kings, I was next up. I raised to 125,000 and the action then folded to Carlos in the small blind. Carlos started the hand a little under a million and announced that he was all in. When the action folded back to me I called and saw that I was in great shape against Carlos\u2019 pocket tens.<\/p>\n
My optimism came to an abrupt end when a ten appeared on the door and no help coming was forthcoming. I didn\u2019t catch up on the turn or river and handed the majority of my stack away to Carlos. I still had about seven big blinds left and had I kept it together\u2014and won the next several hands I played\u2014I could\u2019ve made another run.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately I wasn\u2019t able to put another run together but by staying cool gave myself further opportunities to win than someone who would have become flustered. But that\u2019s poker and you can\u2019t always win with the best hand.<\/p>\n