All hands shown actually took place. To limit your experience, use the following search words--
BAD BEAT: when Lady Luck wasn't there for me.
GOOD BEAT: when Lady Luck was on my side.
DEFINITION: examples that define a poker term.
BAD PLAY: an error made during a hand.
LAYDOWN: folding a possibly beaten hand.
QUIZ: test yourself
I've always theorized that the big stack always gets some kind of advantage. Here is a great example of that on Bodog. I think as long as you have the big stack, you'll tend to get lucky. Just don't bluff and wait for the cards.
I had this guy and put all my money in knowing he would probably call. He needed a ten or for the board to pair. He had six outs and Lady Luck screwed me again. Oh well, at least I can still play online poker even though I doubt I'd ever get any of this money that's on UltimateBet.
I felt like I had the best hand against this guy so I called, trying to lessen the blows of a raise and trying to keep the pot from getting too large. My instincts were good because it turns out my opponent had the usual two outer that somehow ends up in his favor.
I had a bad feeling about this hand when this guy called my raise and my bet on the flop. I felt like he might have a set or something and might have turned a boat. So I played cautiously. But I was right after all - he did have a boat. It's just that he got lucky. I'm beginning to hate this fucking game.
Then, when I make the correct play and fold (though I probably have to check the math here), Lady Luck grants me the card I need. It just doesn't make sense. Maybe to get lucky, you just have to play bad sometimes?
Talk about a losing streak. I've gotten my money in with the best hand on this FTP Rush Poker a few times now and I just can't seem to get a break. At least this one didn't happen on the river.
I'm getting sick of this unlucky streak. Actually, I've been sick ever since my largest lost ever. It's been downhill ever since. Every time I hit a big hand, someone ends up getting lucky. Every time I think I finally get lucky, someone gets even luckier. It's really unbelievable.
Here I hit my set and am ready to get as much as I can with a raise on the turn. But what do you know happens? My opponent gets lucky and hits his set. Totally ridiculous and infuriating.
It was the perfect slow-play. I limp, someone raises, then the big blind re-raises all-in to try to isolate. He didn't realize I was slow-playing. I was ready to collect my money when Lady Luck slaps me in the face once again by turning a ten. So once again, the worst hand ends up winning. That's how my luck is right now.
It's happening again. Over and over and over again. I'm getting sick beats from people who are getting ridiculously lucky. They'll get lucky on the flop, on the turn, or on the river with gut shots, trips, or straights coming out of what seems like nowhere. It's just painful and frustrating. It's like a steep loss and the only reason I keep coming back is for the bonus that hopefully will keep me floating. It's not a huge decent, but the loss is 10% of my bankroll which is a pretty serious decline. I know it won't last forever, but this bad streak can't last forever. There's just no way I can be this unlucky that long.
Here are just a few examples of what I'm talking about.
Just a sampling of some of the hands I've had that get cracked. It's the best hand you can start with, but it doesn't mean anything when Lady Luck has it in for you.
On this session, I took numerous beats where I would have the best hand, only to get bamboozled on the turn or river by two pair or trips. It was one of those sessions that have you baffled. You think it can't continue, but it just happens over and over again and you shake your head wondering how it could be. Well, as everyone knows, it happens. You can't explain the run of bad luck and you just get smashed over and over again. Here's just an example.
It's not the first time I've lost to a one-outer in my life. And it probably won't be my last. But this one was particularly brutal because everything came together just right for me. I was a little afraid of the three diamonds on the turn. But when that boat came for me on the river, I thought I had it made. They say that you'll usually only get called on a big bet when you're beat, and this one takes the cake.
This was it, the hand that broke the $100 barrier on PS! On the previous hand, I got lucky with a flush and decided to just play the hand to see if it would lead me to some kind of rush. I got lucky and the result was breaking the barrier.
I hate these hands like the one below. You have top pair and some guy decides to call you hoping to hit top pair on the turn. He hits his pair on the turn, but at the same time, you hit two pair. You're killin' him. He thinks he's best by raising you and capping all the bets. Only a two-outer full house would allow him to get one over on you. So what do you think happens?
Just another sick beat on the river by a big stack. For some reason, I just felt like I was going to get that beat. It's one of those sick feelings you get that you aren't going to win the hand. Sol when it came, I wasn't even really surprised.
If I'm going to take a bad beat, I'd rather have it on the flop. But lately, the beats have been coming on the river. I suppose with what is going on in the rest of the world, these beats aren't a big deal. So ces la vie and I'm sure more will come in the future. As they all say, all you can do is control your actions. You can't do anything about things that aren't in your control.
I faced not just one, but two bad beats in a day. It's weird how that happens sometimes. It's also weird that the bad beats were pretty much the same kind of bad beat. My opponents needed a gutshot to hit their straight and they needed running cards to hit them.
This is the type of hand that frustrates the shit out of me. I'm so far ahead, so ridiculously far ahead, that my opponent basically needs a runner, runner to get a full house for a win. Once the turn hits, he can't even win - I'm freerolling at that point. But Lady Luck being the cruel vixen that she is, grants this guy a chopped pot on the river. I wouldn't have been so mad if he didn't act like an idiot and continue to raise. I'm really sick of this game and if it wasn't for my dogged determination to beat it, I'd have quit a long time ago.
I recently gave a beat similar to this, but not nearly as bad in my opinion. Surprisingly, I'm just an 88% favorite pre-flop. It seems like I'd be further ahead, but not apparently. The flop worried me a little because that dumb spade showed-up. Nevertheless, I go up to 92% as a favorite.
Then another spade shows up which lowers me down to 80%. What's so maddening about this hand is that I finished 9th and a 7th place finish puts me in the money. I was definitely on tilt and called with KJ against the chip leader who was pretty tight the entire way and knocked me out with KK. That added insult to injury. The point is, never give up.
Sometimes you take it, and sometimes you give it. I gave it this time, though I was never in any danger of busting out. I do believe that having a bigger stack gives you an edge at times on PS and this is just another example of that.
I've been reading Gus Hansen's book and in it he talks about math a lot. He calls a lot of raises because he is usually getting the correct odds to call.
In our case, I decide to try to steal by being on the button. Little did I know the villain had pocket aces. It was probably a bad idea to raise with 83o especially against a short-stack, but I wanted to be aggressive. So let's do some analysis.
When I raise, the villain re-raises the minimum just to extract a little more money from me. Usually, a minimum raise like that, especially when you're the short-stack, indicates a very big hand. I knew this, but with a minimum raise, I'm getting close to 4-to-1. He's closer to being a 5-to-1 favorite so my call is still pretty bad. However, I obviously didn't know he had aces, so if he had something like AKs, I'd be correct with calling.
The villain wanted to keep extracting money from me and his check is very good. He led me to believe he didn't hit anything with such garbage on the board. He's a 3-to-1 favorite on the flop. I'm getting about even money when I put my bet in, so it's a bad bet.
Thankfully, Lady Luck had me in mind and allowed me to sneak one past the villain with a runner runner flush. It's pretty sick and these are the type of beats that make you want to quit.
Sometimes you'll go on a rush and you'll win hands you shouldn't. Sometimes you'll go on a losing streak and you'll lose hands where you're ahead. It's sick, but it's just part of the game.
In this first hand, I'm a 91% favorite. Only the gutshot can beat me. Why would this guy call? I'm just glad I didn't bet the river.
On the very next hand, I get my money in and the guy calls with a weaker kicker. Once again I'm a huge favorite at 84% on the flop. The guy must have thought I was bluffing.
Omaha usually doesn't give you much of an edge when you're playing. Much of the time, you're barely ahead, so having a made hand and being an 87.5% favorite on the turn is about as much as you can expect. I thought my opponent needed a J or a T, but apparently a 2 would also help him to get a boat. Darn that river!
