Bad Beat Stories

Now that I've been playing poker for a few years, I have found that I hate bad beat stories. I don't want to hear them, and I don't like telling them. I think they all sound the same, "I had the best hand, but I still lost." There is a reason they show the Win% on TV. Sometimes the % doesn't work out the way you want. AA only win 4 out of 5 times, and that's if they're played properly.

Lately, I've been noticing something about my 'game'. When I bust out of a tournament, or donk off chips in a cash game, I can usually find a reason that I busted out, rather than just saying it was a bad beat. Something that I screwed up, or could have done differently. I still would have lost the hand, but I might not have lost as many chips if I had played it differently.

I think this means my 'game' is growing and evolving. Or maybe I'm just screwing up too much. I'm not sure.

For example, this hand happened a few weeks ago at my Saturday tournament. Being a home game, we've got a lot a players showing up late. Chan arrived in Level 2 (50/100), and was seated at my table. Chan is what you might call a 'Crazy Asian'. He's a good player, and I respect his game, but he does some crazy aggressive stuff.

In his first hand, he's UTG and raises to 450. The player next to him calls. I'm the Button, and also call with 97o. Flop: 8 6 5. Yahtzee! Chan bets 700. Next player calls. I raise to 2000 with the Nut Straight. Chan thinks for a moment and calls. The other player folds.

Turn: [8 6 5] 6. Chan bets 1500. This confused me a bit. I showed strength by raising the Flop, and he leads out when the board pairs. I just call the 1500.

River: [8 6 5 6] 7. Chan 'hollywoods' for a bit, and shoves All-In for just over 5000. In frustration, I say, "I flopped the Straight. I call." Chan flips over 86s for a boat. I'm left with just 400 chips, and was eliminated shortly after.

Now many players would consider this a Bad Beat, and they would be right. I flopped the Nut Straight, and Chan turned a four outer. There was no way I could have won this pot. But did I need to waste 5K in chip by making a crying call on the River?

After the 7 hit the board, it counterfeited my Straight. So what could I beat? An Overpair, or A6s is about it. As I said before, Chan can be crazy, but he's not stupid. He wouldn't overplay AA this badly. Even if he had 99, we would be chopping. It's always possible that he's bluffing, but I've played with him for a few years now, and this is not a place that he would do this, especially on his first hand.

He played his hand straight forward (except for raising UTG with 86s). He flopped Two Pair, and bet. He turned a Full House, and bet. He figured his hand was good, and pushed on the River. Had I taken a moment to think this out, I would have realized all this, and hung around in the tourney longer.