Online bad beats are going to happen, and they are good in the long run!

There are tons of stunningly bad beats in online poker. After you are beaten and shown a completely unbelievable hand, you scratch your head and think "geez, I must be getting cheated, no one can play like that and win". Well, these players who are giving you these horrible beats are probably not winning. Here are two hands that I played back-to-back while multi-tabling that shows you what you don't see unless you look at the hand histories.

Hand 1.
I am in the small blind holding 8h8d.
Everyone folds to me and I raise. The big blind calls
I continue to bet on the Flop, Turn and River, and the big blind calls me on each street. I am not comfortable on any of them, but it turns out, I really had nothing to worry about.

Here's the board by the River:
Qh Th Qd - 6h - 5h

I had the 8h and hit a flush on the River - yes, I bet it, although I would have folded if there was a raise.

The hand history showed the opponent had: Kc3h
He called on the River with his 3h since he had a flush (not that bad once he's there). He called on the Turn because he had flush draw and an overcard (horrible). He called on the Flop because ... ? well, I don't know! If I had AsQc, I'd be ready to commit suicide seeing he hit the flush. Lesson to be learned: check the hand history in hands you win - to see how lucky you are to have these bad players online.

Hand 2.
This hand happened at another table, but right after the first hand.
UTG folds in a 6 player game, and I rase with Ad9s.
Both blinds call.

Flop: Js 3h 2s

They check. I bet hoping they both fold. The small blind calls and the big blind folds.

Turn: Qc.

Its checked to me, and I bet again, praying he folds. But again he calls.

River: 7s

I don't like it. Maybe he's hit a flush.
He checks, and I decide to check too. I'm convinced he'd call even with a pair of 2s.

I win the pot, his hand was Ks 4h.

Now look at the board. It was
Js 3h 2s Qc 7s

There was no point in this hand where he made a correct decision to call. Even pre-Flop, he should have folded to a UTG +1 raiser in a 6-handed game. So he put in a total of 2 big bets completely unwarranted. Sure, some hands he'll win, and I'll curse myself for my bad luck...but more often than not, this is what occurs. Folks, this does not happen in brick and mortar games in 10/20 or higher. It only happens in the virtual world.

Due to the horrendous bad beats the horrible players will give you sometimes, they have learned to play crappy hands in crappy ways like this. It is because of the incredible bad beats you have received that allows you to win more money when you would never dream of. The next time you get a horrible beat, think of hands like this where you would have won just the blinds, but instead you won a few more bets for no apparent reason. End of sermon.