I know something all poker players hate. I know because I have the same dislike for them. Bad beat stories. Because of this, I rarely if ever write about them in my Hand of The Week columns. I don’t write about them because it sits on the borderline of whining. I also dismiss them because sometimes, bat beats aren’t bad beats at all, you just happen to get outdrawn. So what exactly is a bad beat. Well, there are several variations of the definition for a bad beat out there so I’ll give you mine. To me, a bad beat is when you play a hand correctly and your opponent does something quite dumb and ends up beating you. I also refer to it as a suckout.

So why am I writing about a bad beat story today. Well, its probably a selfish reason. This particular hand irked me so much and damaged my playing roll at the table so profoundly that it hand a great impact on the rest of my session. It didn’t make me go on tilt I’m happy to report, but it did change my ability to do certain things and by causing me to be short stacked, seriously damaged my chances of making a comeback later on.

On to the hand…I was playing live at a $1-$2 NL table with $200 in front of me. I had previously lost a hand 15 minutes earlier when my big slick was beaten by AQ when a Queen hit on the river after I lopped top pair, top kicker. That one was bad enough but this hand should have been my salvation.

In the big blind, I’m dealt 5s-7s. If a player would have raised, given my position I would have happily tossed this hand. However, there was only one caller in middle position as well as the small blind. So there was $6 in the pot and I’m hoping to see a 4,6,8 flop. Incredibly, the flop comes out 4d, 6s, 8h. Perfect! I flopped the nut straight.

Before I can even think about how to play this the small blind bets $15 into the $8 pot. Very curious bet, he was probably trying to just buy a small pot. I’m not going to slow play this and get outdrawn so I raise $30 to $45. Before my chips even hit the table, the middle position player, last to act announces all in for an additional $100. The small blind folds. Of course, I know I’m going to call but I’m trying to figure out what he could hold. I’m thinking trips but we’ll find out soon enough. I call and there’s over $250 in the pot. I flip over my nut straight and my opponent flips over Jd-Qd! What is this yo-yo thinking? He clearly was bluffing and I was ready to make him pay.

Then it started to unravel. The turn card was the 3d giving him hope to make his flush. And the river came as the 9d. Un-freaking-believable. Everyone at the table was astonished and the player sheepishly collected his chips. I was steaming but I didn’t want to let everyone know the obvious. Then the player did something I absolutely hate. He said “I’m sorry, I was just bluffing.” I replied “Don’t apologize, that’s poker.” What I wanted to say was “Don’t apologize, you’re just an idiot,” but that’s not my style.

So there you have it, a truly bad beat. I feel a little better even though I’d much rather have my money instead.

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