In poker, and life, there are risks with every reward. You must be willing to gamble for both. However, it’s important to know when to quit and take a break from the game. This will allow you to recharge your batteries and come back ready to play. This is especially true if you are playing against a group of poor players that you cannot outplay.

This can be very frustrating, particularly if you have played a good game and then lose to some crazy, mathematically unlikely final card that gives your opponents an unbeatable hand. If you’ve experienced this, you know how sickening it can be to see your winning hands go bust because of one lousy card.

Another common cause of bad beats is overplaying mediocre hands. For example, you may be holding a middle-pair or top pair with a terrible kicker and find yourself involved in an aggressive pot with other players. This is where you can bet and raise and eventually end up losing to a player with third-pair or a high card.

This is often the result of trying to outwit your opponent by slow-playing a strong hand and hoping that they will call and fold weaker hands. However, this type of deception is easily exploited by your opponents and can leave you with a very small return on investment. Instead, it’s better to be a bit more predictable by betting and raising your strong value hands when you expect them to have the best odds of winning. This will make it harder for your opponents to overthink and arrive at inaccurate conclusions about your intentions, which will make it easier for you to trap them.