Bad Calls Resulting In Bad Beats - Reforming the Brat

So for years, I was known as the "Poker Brat" of the Lake Norman World Tavern Poker League. And I admit, I was pretty obnoxious about bad calls resulting in bad beats. I actually made a good friend of mine cry after I berated her about making an awful call and hitting a 2 outer on the river to beat me. Luckily, my tirades tend to last no more than a minute, and then a cooler head tends to prevail, so I apologized. (Once again, sorry CF...Glad you and DF are still friends of mine)

Luckily, I've seen the light and grown up. Poker IS a skill game, requiring a hefty dose of math, psychology, and pure chutzpah. However, such a large luck element is involved that it's inevitable that one is going to experience bad beats from bad calls.

People often debate, wonder, and wax philosophical about "how much of poker is luck and how much of poker is skill?" I'm going to throw in my two cents...No-Limit Hold 'Em is, IMHO,70 percent skill, and 30 percent luck.

I personally believe that the 3 elements of skill required for poker are (as stated above) math, psychology, and chutzpah. A good or great poker player will be able to blend the three skills into a seamless dance, and vary how much of each element they employ depending on the game and the situation. They will also know when to use these three elements to take advantage of luck when it comes their way.

Of course, in NLHE, I am fully convinced that the art of the game only has a small math component. Don't get me wrong; if a poker player doesn't understand the math to correctly calculate odds, pot odds, outs, etc., they're typically going to find themselves short or out in very short order. The math is the easy part though; playing the psychological game and having the chutzpah to trust your instincts, whether based on psychology or math...that's the hard part.

So while there are players that are loose cannons for the sake of being loose cannons, there are plenty of smart players that are employing an element of skill that tighter players tend not to be able to have. Once again, the key becomes finding the correct balance for each game or situation. An unskilled poker player will play purely with their guts all the of the time and not adjust their game. These are the loose cannons that will win big usually or go home early. Admittedly, they ARE the most frustrating to play against. Achieve balance in your game, between luck, math, psychology, and chutzpah, and it won't matter. You'll win in the end.