Bad Beats

The Dark Side of Poker

Sep 22, 2008 Mary Welling-Bonney

Just as flops and straights are a part of the game, so too is the bad beat.

If you have played poker for any length of time you have at one time experienced what is termed a bad beat. A bad beat is when you and another player are in a hand and you have the highest percentage of winning the hand to a large degree but get beat by a lesser hand on the turn of a card.

For example you are playing Texas Holdem and you get dealt the pocket rockets-Ace-Ace. You know that no matter what hand the other player has you have the best chances of winning the hand. Therefore your position becomes extracting the most chips from the other player. You can't be too aggressive or they will fold. You and the other player both have around the same number of chips at the start of the hand. You are in the big blind so that you can just call and disquise the strength of your hand. Instead you choose to put in a small raise to make the other player think you are just trying to steal the blinds. The other player stays with you.

The flop is Ah, 6s, 8c. You now have trips. You still don't know what the other player has but feel safe in raising the pot again. You are surprised to find the ace on the flop didn't scare away the other player when they call your raise. Fourth street is dealt and it is a 2d. You know there is no flush possible. There is no straight on the board and at the moment you hold the winning hand. You raise the pot and the other player once more stays in.

The river turns up an 8d. You now have a full house. You use all of your poker savvy skills to not jump for joy. You raise the pot once more. When the other player goes all-in you are thrilled. You are going to take them out and get all of their chips. You call the bet and slap down your aces. The other player turns over a pair of eights. They hit four of a kind.

You get that sick to your stomach-hit in the gut feeling only a poker player understands. That is a bad beat. Just like winning a race, hitting your flush and flopping the nuts bad beats are a part of the game. They are just the part of playing poker that hurts the most.

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