I want to address the expectations that you, as a poker player, have when you sit down at a poker table, either online or in a live casino game. I think many times as players learn how to play "good" or at least better poker, they sometimes have unreasonable expectations as to how events may unfold during any given game.

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What I mean by this is that I constantly see players become livid after a bad beat. I constantly see players bemoan the unfairness of the poker site, the stupidity of fellow players, and the unfairness of life in general. In my book I discuss "bad beats" and the psychology of dealing with them at great lengths. Without getting into that subject, what I mean by expectations is simply this: most players feel that they should win every hand that they play correctly. This is an unrealistic expectation to have and one that you need to alter if you are going to be a winning poker player in the long term.

No one likes to be sucked out on but it happens. No one likes to have pocket Aces cracked, but it happens. And no one likes it when some moron playing 6-2 wins a hand over A-K. Most players would like to believe that there is a sure fire method to win every hand, if only they play it in the correct manner given the situation.
However, this is not the case, and you need to realize that bad things will happen sometimes and you  have to get over it and move on. Yeah, I know, that sounds easy, but you have to do it. If you sit down to play and EXPECT to win every hand where you have the advantage, you will walk away from the poker table soured and in a bad state of mind.

Do not misunderstand me. I am not saying you should expect to lose. On the contrary, you SHOULD expect to win. Just do not make it the most monumental thing in the world if it doesn't work out.

To illustrate, here is a hand I played on Full Tilt recently.

I was in middle position with pocket 5's when the action folded around to me. I made a pretty standard 3x Big Blinds raise and got one call from the player on the button who I had noticed was playing pretty loose and seeing nearly every flop.

The Flop came 5-6-J rainbow. No flush possibilities on the board, but with Mr. Plays Every Hand having position on me, I am not taking a chance on getting sucked out on. I make a pot sized bet with my set of 5's and get a call. No surprise.

The Turn is a T. No help to me, but no harm either. I make another pots sized bet for about 1/2 my chips figuring to really punish this guy. He calls again.

The River is a 4. I go all-in, he calls and flips over 7-3 off suit. I am out of the tournament and he doubles up playing crap and sucking out a gut-shot straight draw on the River. Unreal.

Do I like it? No, of course not. Am I tempted to toss my lap top out the window? Yes, of course I am!

However, I will not let this influence my "poker mind set". If my set of 5's is going to be beaten by some idiot playing 7-3, there isn't much I can do about that but move on to the next game. I expected to win that hand, but having played a significant amount of poker over the years, I know that sh** happens sometimes and you lose hands that you should have won. The answer is to forget about it and play your best again in the next game. If you let them, bad beats will poison your mind set and that you cannot allow if you want to be a successful poker player.