One thing that interest me alot when i read about poker on forums/blogs and trip reports is key hands and how people got knocked out. Usually people try and stay away from mentioning bad beats or covering them up by saying they know its poker etc (i however am going to complain about them like fuck)... But what makes something a bad beat?? I personally feel that there are two types of bad beat and i think i suffered both of these today. The Big Blind bad beat Getting dealt a shitty hand on the BB aka 7 3o or 10 5 (i'm holding this) and you get four limpers in and you check. The flop comes down 10 4 10. SB checks i bet a dollar ( 0.25/0.5c NL) he has $120 in play i have $34 he raises me $5 i reraise him another $5 he raises all in. So all my chips are in on the flop with trip 10's he turns over A10 for trips aswell and i lose all my money. For me i think that this is the worst of all bad beats as in any other position you would toss the hand away. But for you to flop trips and there no sign of straight or flush then you think milk the bitch and get me some nice dollarage. Then they turn over trips and a higher kicker and your eating stale bread and cheese for a week*. The All in Bad Beat This i feel is worst in MTT/STT than in ring games as the costs can be alot higher. Say you have just under average stack in a tourney and you go all in with AK, AJ, 10 10, AQ and a large stack calls. He flips over a hand that you are beating maybe AK to AQ or JJ to 55. You hit the flop and its looking good for a nice double through. You have your two pair he needs to catch runner runner queen to make trips against your aces and kings. The first one comes on the turn and your thinking not a chance of it coming but still it was nice of them to give him a chance. Then you see the river and its come and all you can think off is you little c**t those chips should be mine. This happened to me today in a cash game however i did laugh as it summed up the past couple of days really. im down to $8 from sitting down with $15 limits as above. I'm dealt AQ on the button and there are 2 limpers so im wanting to steal the blinds or a double up so i raise all in. One caller and he turns over K3 suited. Im happy especially as the flop comes down QQJ i'm happy counting the dollars thanking vicor up there on his head office computer being nice to me when all of a sudden im seeing turn K then river K. This time i didnt swear i had a little chuckle to myself about how when things aren't going you way then the bad beats seem to always happen. What happened there i dont think you can actually class it as a bad beat i think its more a bad play during a time when im not getting the run of the cards. Had i hit a few flops previously and built my chips up to $30 i would have raised on the button with AQ to $2.5 and seen a flop. Say i get 2 callers see the flop of QQJ. Then i would have been able to make a bet between $2 and $4 to build the pot up or take it down there. Then the guy with the K3 wouldnt call the bet on the flop. So that was be subtly trying to get in the fact that the card God has not been nice to me the past few days. Luckily im getting a break as off Devon for new years so means i will still have $$$ in my account in 2005. * Just to re assure you i am not eating like a tramp just yet give me a few weeks until im back at uni.

Source: My poker mission