If you've played poker long enough, you have likely come across a really bad beat... or two, the kind of bad beat hands that send your mind spinning as to how it happened. You had know idea you were beat until the showdown, you're amazed that the cards in your oppenants hand aren't lying in the muck by now.
Your reaction to that beat can go a long way in determining your success as a poker player.
There is probably not a poker player playing today that has not gotten disgruntled over a miracle card that took away a pot they thought they had one. Being mad about the card, or the bad players decision to stay in the hand is one thing but going on tilt and allowing that previous hand to effect your future poker player can cost you even more money.
What poker player's call "tilt" is when you play your irrationally usually following a bad beat, or even a big win, sometimes boredom causes tilt. In a nutshell, tilt is when you play let your emotions get the best of you, and you stop playing your best poker game.
Letting that one hand affect your rational decision making can lead to even more loses which in turn feeds the tilt. Great poker players learn to handle a huge win or huge lose in the same way, with no emotion.
No matter how much a favorite your hand is to win before the flop, good players realize that you cannot and will not win every pot, even when you should have. Bad beats of every form are going to happen eventually if you play long enough there will coma time when these type of beats don't even phase or surprize you. Just another day at the office, and another fish to eat.
This is not to say that a bad beat will not affect you, it can be devastating to lose a big pot or a tournament on the river when the only card that can beat you falls onto the felt. The problem arises when that emotion gets in the way of making the right decision in future hands.
Seating there stoically and letting a bad beat not affect your play is a skill reserved for only the very best poker players. For all the others there are a couple options that can be employed to help clear the mind and start again to get back your chips.
Take the next couple hands off, fold them, maybe without looking. Clear your head and start playing again when you have successfully shaken off the mental effects of the bad beat. You can also get up and walk around. Leave the poker room for a few minutes; smash the buttons of a penny slot machine around for a minute, get some air or whatever it takes to get your head back in the game.
If none of that works, maybe it is time to quite for the day (assuming you're playing a cash poker game, and not a tournament). It is important not to let emotions eat away at your hard earned money that you worked hard to earn.
