There’s a reason that the term “poker face” has become a common saying. Poker is all about controlling your expressions and emotions. Of course, understanding the game helps too, but as long as you can keep a straight face and not betray your hand, you should be good.
However, sometimes bad beats happen, and a series of defeats can affect your mental game.
Whether you’re still at the poker table or sitting with your emotions at home, here are some tips to help you mentally recover from a bad beat.
Change Your Mindset
It is easy to feel down or “less-than” when you are suffering continuous losses. But one thing that will ensure mental toughness from a bad beat is to consciously change your mindset.
You need to change your perspective of the experience and view it not as a setback, but as a learning experience. There is no point in focusing solely on the negative outcome when you could instead turn it into a positive and view it as an opportunity to improve your game.
Playing at a live table in a casino means you may want to instantly react, but it is best to calmly leave the situation and reevaluate your feelings when you’re alone. Even when you’re playing at home on instant withdrawal casinos, and you hoped you could immediately cash out your winnings, you need to take a step back and assess how you feel.
By viewing the bad beat in a positive light, you can reassess how you can adapt your poker strategy and where you can improve. Start valuing progress, not perfection, and you will enjoy poker a lot more – even when you lose.
Regulate Your Emotions
Along with changing your mindset around the loss comes regulating your emotions. A tough loss can cause major emotional upset, but there are some techniques you can adopt to help you control your feelings, and not have your feelings control you.
Practice mindfulness
Many people have been throwing the word “mindfulness” around, but what does it really mean? Being mindful means being completely aware of your body and emotions.
It can help you maintain a resilient mindset, even when suffering a bad beat. Meditation is one way in which you can practice mindfulness at home.
Meditation goes hand-in-hand with breathing exercises, as you sit in silence, clearing your mind, staying in the present moment, and focusing on the sensations in your body. It sounds simple, but doing this daily for a few minutes can help you deal with tough or anger-inducing situations, like losing a poker hand.
Mindfulness results in emotional stability, which means you will be more than ready for whatever may come the next time you sit at the poker table.
Apart from that, meditation can also help you manage your stress, improve your focus (a great bonus to poker players), and calm your mind.
Breathing exercises
Whether sitting at the table or at home, breathing can help calm you down and maintain your composure. Take in a deep breath through your nose, hold it for about five seconds, and exhale through the mouth until your lungs are empty.
This basic exercise will help you relax and restore a sense of balance while facing a tough beat.
Give yourself a positive pep talk
You’ve seen those boxing films where the main character is taking hit after hit, ready to quit, and his coach gives him the most uplifting pep talk in the corner of the ring. You’ll recall that the underdog gets up and wins the fight.
Pep talks work, and there’s no harm in giving yourself one in the face of defeat. Recovering from a bad beat is no small task, but by highlighting your strengths and strongest abilities, you will be able to overturn your negative thoughts.
You should practice gratitude for the poker skills that you do have and your past wins, and also visualize what it would be like to win your next round.
These positive affirmations will help you grow your confidence, preparing yourself for the next round.
Learn From The Experience
As part of changing your mindset about your bad beat, you need to be able to take something positive away from the experience.
If you want to become great at poker, you need to consider each hand as an opportunity to learn, even when you lose.
You need to analyze your mistakes to understand where you went wrong when making decisions and adapt your strategies accordingly. You should also develop patience so you can stay focused on the game, even when things aren’t going your way.
Get Support
There is no shame in getting support from friends or fellow players, especially if you’re struggling to pull yourself back after a bad beat. Your peers may be able to offer you advice from their own experiences, and you can learn a thing or two from their coping strategies.
If you don’t feel comfortable talking about how you’re feeling with those you know, you can turn to online communities for support. You’re not the first player to suffer a bad loss, and there are plenty of players online who would be happy to offer you their support.
Conclusion
You may be tempted to sit back down at the table after suffering a bad beat, but if your head isn’t in the game, you’re unlikely to win, worsening the losing cycle.
Recovering from a bad beat in poker is all about strengthening your mindset and regulating your emotions. By taking a psychological approach, staying calm, and changing the way you think about the loss, you will be building your confidence and resilience for your next game.