11/15/04
- Are the bad beats really worse online?
Before we start,
I’m sure you’re thinking it’s about time we
put out the first newsletter. Well, here it is, and we plan on
delivering subsequent newsletter on a bi-weekly basis
Sometimes, the newsletter
will deal with very general Texas Holdem topics, while others
will be more specific. Many of the articles will have a bias
towards online Texas Holdem, providing tips on how to become
a more successful online player. I hope to mix it up, provide
fresh content and shed some light on the game I love. Here we
go…
I used to be very
suspicious of playing online Texas Holdem, back in the early
days, before we knew world champions came from online poker rooms.
I couldn’t help but think they can see my cards or my cards
never allow me to win. I think this was more a function of my
poor play, not knowing the rules, and good old fashioned paranoia.
 
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Today, because of the exploding popularity of Texas holdem, people
are a lot more comfortable playing online. Most of the bigger
online sites like FullTilt have established players, including
Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and Phil Ivey, two WSOP champions.
Online poker sites
regularly advertise on TV and host some of the biggest and best
multiplayer
poker tournaments. In fact, you can’t turn
on the TV without seeing Texas Holdem on the Travel Channel,
sponsored by PartyPoker or PokerStars, etc. The bottom line is
they have established credibility and will continue to grow in
coming years. So if you enjoy the game, playing online is a great
way to do it. Ok now, that’s all well and good, but
are the bad beats really worse online?
I used to think
so because the beats seemed so bad, too often. Three things helped
me to change my mind:
#1- I took the same
amount of bad beats in person and saw people suffer the same,
unbelievable injustices, I suffered. You see bad beats every
time you turn on the WPT or the WSOP on TV. In fact, I played
a WPT event and took so many bad beats that I started to think
I actually have better luck online. (Sidebar—don’t
take a cruise with 400 poker players for a week if you can’t
handle hearing about 1000 bad beat stories :-)
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#2- I magnified the beats, in my own mind, making them seem so
much worse and because of this it felt like they were occurring
more often than they were. The funny thing is, like Matt Damon
quotes, in Rounders, "few players remember big pots they
have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember
with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career."
It’s stained
into your head and your brain tricks you into thinking you’re
the unluckiest guy in the world. In fact, I started looking at
my stats and over the course of a year I had not been the recipient
of an unusual string of bad luck, it just felt that way. You
all know, Texas Holdem can do it to ya.
#3- I wasn’t
a good Texas Holdem player and made a lot of foolish mistakes.
Eventually I learned from this and I adopted a new, Zen-like
attitude, and a degree of patience I didn’t know I possessed,
and a funny thing happened, I started winning. I was honest with
myself, knew I wasn’t much good, but committed myself to
getting better. Most players think they are better than they
are and this gets them in trouble, especially these days. They
see these skillfully played hands on TV and think they can play
like that too. Sorry it doesn’t work that way. Remember,
before playing Texas Holdem check your ego at the door, otherwise
it will be a painful experience for you.
Good Luck!
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