Bad beat
A bad beat is a hand you lose after getting the money in as the clear favourite, which makes it a story about the cards rather than about a mistake.
The label describes the outcome, not the play. Getting the money in ahead is the whole aim, so a bad beat means the plan worked and the deck did not co-operate, which is a very different thing from a hand you misplayed.
The favourite is rarely as big a favourite as it feels. Aces against kings before the flop win 81.06% of the time across all 1,712,304 boards, so the underdog wins closer to one time in five than one time in fifty.
an example
your cards
board
All the money goes in before the flop with two aces against two kings. The flop brings a king, and you finish with a pair of aces against three kings. Nothing here was played badly, and 18.55% of the time it ends this way.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find bad beat in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Cooler
A cooler is a hand where two players both make something strong enough that all the money goes in and neither of them di ...
Variance
Variance is the spread of short term results around the long run average, which is why a run of winning or losing sessio ...
Tilt
Tilt is playing worse than you know how to because of how you feel, usually after a loss, a bad beat or a long stretch w ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.