This is just to show how Poker can be sometimes…Like they say, “it is just a game”, well, I can understand, sometimes it is hard to see it that way.
Just to give you a simple example of when I find it hard to see poker without any anger….
My money-balance: € 0.50, my last money on this poker site…(not NoPayPOKER by the way)
My hand: Pocket Jacks (cJsJ) I’m on the BigBlind, €0.01/€0.02
Someone is raising up to €1,- and about 5 people are in. This makes me all-in, wouldn’t you be..?
On the flop: h5 – sQ – dJ so, I hit my pair! Knowing I got a good shot to hit the pot, we are going to the Turn: a h6, nothing good nor bad
Two more people are going all-in, and so I see what is going on…
My neighbor hit his pocket Queen, and so, it is looking bad for me..
The River: d5 does not make it any better for me….
My neighbor won the pot and I leave the poker room, somewhat irritated to be honest, as I know that this is my last hand on this poker room, and I’m not willing to deposit any time soon… So, I got to do my best during the freeroll, hoping I can get some money back there ☺
Besides, let’s think on the other hand; It could have been me with pocket Queens, so I guess, better luck next time! Still, it sucks, don’t you think so..?
NoPay editor – Oh well, that does suck bad, but never mind, when you’re all out of money and luck you can still play free online poker games with us 
Oh, and by the way, pocket Js when you’re big blind is a hand that should actually be folded as it has a negative expected value. See Building Your Bankroll part 2 – playable pockets – for why this was not actually a true bad beat after all…just an expression of probability -
In early position the ONLY playable pockets with positive expected value are:
That’s it….every other possible pocket you could be dealt while seated in an Early position has a Negative Expected Value (-EV).
Then again, to be fair to our player, if folding means you’re out of cash then it’s all rather acamedic anyway!
Plus the probability expressed here is based on a 10 player table so with 5 seated only…possibly it is fair enough to try JJ. Comments?
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August 13th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Pocket JJ in the Big Blind with 5 players in the hand, and he needs to go all-in to call the bet. Bad play, good play, bad beat, or serendipity?
The chance of an Ace, King, or Queen hitting the board, without a Jack hitting the board, during the hand are, on average, in the area of 85% (including the probability that someone holds a pocket overpair)…..and, that makes the pocket JJ an 11 to 2 underdog. Thus Pot Odds of 9 to 2 are a long-term ‘dead even’ proposition.
However, with 5 players in the hand, our friend with pocket JJ is getting 5 to 1 on his money. And, that would be a long-term 11% advantaged return (11 to 2 versus 5 to 1). Now, would a ‘solid’ player would walk away from a long-term ROI of 11%? The answer is “Yes”….the ‘solid’ player is looking for plays where the ROI is equal to or greater than 40% (at the very least, many will only play at 50% or better; me included).
So, in the end, it’s not a good play, it ain’t serendipity that caused the loss, it was definitely a bad play, and it sure as heck wasn’t a bad beat….in fact, there’s no such thing as a bad beat; it’s poker.