I've been playing Hold'em in some form or another for over a year now, but only online for real money for 2 weeks. I had my first seriously bad beat yesterday:

I had won two horseraces where I had the edge, back to back. I had taken my $25 buy-in at .25/.50 on Pokerroom.com to $62.50. I had big eyes for $100, and it was my largest single day gain to date. Flying high, I decided to take a shot at pushing the others around with my big stack. The very next hand, I get AQs. I raise, get called. Flop comes AKQ. I move heavy, get called. Two rags fall down, and the bets get bigger and bigger. The showdown shows his trips to my AAQQK. 30 bucks down the tubes, my profits minimal now.

I have never felt like that before. A wave of sickness enveloped me like I was diving into tepid water. Shellshocked, I tried to play a pair of 10s hard and lost to overcards drawing out on the river, down another 6 bucks and under my starting value. I felt like I got punched in the stomach, was sad, angry, totally and irrevocably on tilt like never before.

I sat out a hand, tried to take stock of the last two hands and when I couldnt get the red haze away from my eyes and try to have two sensible thoughts put together, I left. I figured out quickly that I was in no shape to play poker, and would only go through the rest of my stack in seconds.

The next day I won 8 bucks in 2 minutes before I got ready for work, and left while I was up.

Moral of the story? When things start to cascade against you, get out and try again later when you're thinking more clearly and with a better attitude.