Poker is a long-term game. While the game is played in short spurts, a poker career as a whole can be thought of as one, long session of play. Since poker is a game of odds, long-term expectations and profits can easily be determined by figuring out the odds and equity of hands. Although it is easy to determine the outcome in the long-term, short-term outcomes cannot be predicted accurately. Kings for example, are 18% to win heads up against Aces. However, on any one, random hand, the Kings of course can win. Although this is a bad beat, it is just a short-term result and all poker players know that Aces will win most of the time and it is a situation that should be more than welcomed.

A good example of long-term vs. short-term expectation can be seen in a simple flip of a coin. If a person were to take a coin a flip it 1000 times, the end result will be very close to 50% heads and 50% tails. The more times the coin is flipped, the closer to 50-50 heads to tails ratio will become. This of course means that if the coin is only flipped 3 times, it is 12.5% likely that the result will be either 3 tails or 3 heads.

An example like this can easily be translated to poker. When poker players put themselves into situations where they are a favorite to win, it does not mean they are going to win that particular hand. It means that if they put themselves in that situation many, many times, in the long-term they are going to show a profit dependent on how big of a favorite they are. Say for example, top pair goes up against a low flush draw on PokerStar.com for a $100 pot. All the money gets in the pot after the flop. On that single hand, the flush draw has a 36% chance to win, and very well may hit. For now, let us assume the flush draw does hit. Although it is a bad beat, the poker player who lost with top pair should welcome that situation again. Now let us imagine that exact situation over the course of 100 different hands. The flush draw will win about 36 times for a total of $3600. Top-pair is going to win about 64 times for a total of $6400.

The goal of this article is to help poker players realize that bad beats can and will happen. In fact, mathematically, they should happen. However, do not be results-oriented. Realize that poker is a long-term game, and during any one random hand, anything can happen.