The Bad Beat.What can You Do when It Hits You

I was playing last night and got creamed by a, "Bad Beat". I was sitting with Ace/Ace in the pocket and hit a set on the flop. Of course I was raising every chance that I could and did not get a reraise until the river. Which was OK with me. The flop was Ace-h-7d-5c. The turn, 2d, and the river 7h. The seven of hearts gave me the full house so I raised back. After the smoke cleared I was beaten by 4 7s. I did the only thing that a sane man can do and went to play slots

Don't laugh. The bad beat will happen to you if you play any amount of Texas Holdem. Actually the incident above was not really all that bad. The guy had a legitimate hand. He took a gut shot and won. And hey, what the hell. You are never going to see four of a kind unless you draw to it from time to time.

A real bad beat is when somebody draws against you with no attention payed to common sense or odds. I was beaten once by a player who must in the long run spend lots of money on poker games. He consistantly ran his luck all the way to the river and was not that lucky. on one hand it came down to just him and I. I had a pair of kings in the pocket and hit the set on the flop. It came K, 4,6. The turn showed up a Jack. No help to either him or I. I was feeling pretty confident with my set of Aces and did not hesitate to bet. He beat me on the river when a 7 was turned over. He had been drawing to 5,8 unsuited. Imagine that. Being in the game with a 5,8 unsuited at all. Imagine staying all the way to the river to draw to an inside straight.