Bad Beats Ahead

I was playing in a live game two days ago with two of my friends - nothing big, just a $10 buy-in and single $5 rebuy, sit n go style - and as I was actually doing quite well. I never even had to rebuy, and took the full $15 from each of them. I've been playing with these guys for a while, and there's one thing that I've noticed from the host. All it takes is one bad beat, one play where he gets the shaft a bit from the cards, and he's pissed. He stops talking, he stops laughing, he gets all intense and he focuses on the game like his life depends on it until he's back up to a good chipstack.

Obviously, in his case, that works out well for him. When he gets angry, he just gets focused as all hell and plays as well as he can until his chips are back. For some people, however, that same mentality will put them right on tilt and their chipstack will just proceed to melt away.

I notice that a lot of people in the poker world seem to be able to get very angry after just one or two bad beats. Someone'll be playing fine, having a good time, and as soon as that 2-outer hits, they get all inverted and pissed off and not only are they angry but they're on tilt too.

I don't quite understand that. Yes, bad beats happen. They happen all the time, everybody gets them, and all that cal. The thing is, everybody gives them out on occasion too. That's what really keeps me from getting too angry (most of the time) when that runner-runner straight or whatever else hits me. I know I've done the same before, and that I'll do it again. So, why should I get so mad when it happens to me every now and then?

Besides, when you give out a bad beat, you don't get ultra-excited and start playing really well, do you? If you're gonna go all hulk mode when you get 'em, you'll throw all your karma out of whack.