Bad beats never end in poker

The minute that you learn that bad beats will never end in poker is the minute you are one step closer to having the mindset you need to be a long term, successful poker.  Not only do I understand that bad beats will happen, I do sick, masochistic things to myself like calculate that I will have AA cracked between 500 and 1000 times more the rest of my life.

I simply estimated the number of hours and hands I will play the rest of my life, figured out how many times I will be dealt AA based on the average, and then took 15-20% of that number to estimate how often I will lose with them.  Depending on some variance and how many hands I actually play I could actually lose 1000 times, I could lose as little as 500 times.  But I will lose with AA hundreds and hundreds of more times.  Same with KK and QQ.  It is simply going to happen.  What we as poker players need to learn is how to cope with those losses.  Being prepared never hurts in life.  I am not meaning to come across as pessimistic,  just realistic.  The next time I lose with AA to 67 I will, hopefully, remain calm and understand it is a part of the game.  It is a neccessary part of the game.  I will look forward to the thousands of times that I will win with the hand and keep my focus on the fact that poker is a long term propositon.  I don't care if I make money tonight.  I don't even care if I make money this week.  What I care about is making money over the year. 

So, when my AA lost to 10 5 on Sunday when the guy thought he had lost and did not realize he had two pair, I just took a breath, and moved on to the next hand.  I have a lot more to play. 

Disciplined Degenerate