The Worst Beat You Ever Had

We've all been there. A losing hand that makes you so upset and dejected you feel like quitting the game forever.
For some of us the moment came deep in a tournament, others faced this peril during a ring game. Whether online or in person,
there is little that rivals the crushing blow of defeat.

This isn't going to be the typical 'one-outer' bad beat story, I'm hoping the rest of you will share your worst
loss at the table, regardless of whether your opponent had one out or seven.

Before I was introduced to poker forums, I was a cocky, brash young kid with a credit card and a love for poker.
I settled on playing at Full Tilt Poker as my site of choice and deposited $50. Within a matter of an hour
I had lost it all and quickly deposited another $100. Playing strictly ring and not knowing how to properly manage my money,
I lost a total of $150 by the end of the day. At the time I wasn't even working and I felt I could beat the game.
One last deposit of $100 was all I was willing to do. If I busted once more I would cut my losses and stop playing.

Slowly but surely I began to build my stack playing $0.50/$1. In the following days I had built up to $350.
I had begun turning a profit and I wasn't about to stop. That month of May 2008 I had a strong bunch of games including a $75 sit-n-go win to a $200 FTOPS event and a bankroll that was nearing $1,000. I withdrew the max amount on my credit card and started over with $200. I entered a tournament ($17,500 GTD) and placed second against DuckU (WSOP ME player) for a cool $4,000.

After cashing out half my roll, I had $2,000 on the site. I was more arrogant than ever. I felt like poker would be my destiny.
Looking back, I knew so little about the game, and it seems silly, but I was only 20 years old.

I sat down at the $25/$50 table with just over $2,000 in play. It was just like Matt Damon in Rounders,
I had a vision about what I'd do with the winnings before I even won them. 10 hands in, this is what happened...

I had JJ six-handed and UTG (uber-aggressive player) raised. I re-raised him back and he pushed me all-in immediately.
I tanked for a short while but eventually called, not hesitating to go for broke. He flipped over AQ.

Not only did the flop bring an ace, but the turn brought a queen and the river didn't bring me a jack. Just like that,
$2,000 was down the tubes and I got my first real sense of financial loss. It was a devastating experience but also one
that moulded me in to a more solid player today. I haven't played much poker lately, but when I begin again, I will stress
BRM, something that would have prevented me from having such a loss. However, playing by those rules, I never would have
experienced such a rollercoaster of emotions.

I contend that very ride made me the player I am today, ultimately not such a bad thing after all.

That's a tough way to learn about BRM for sure Lefty! I know you haven't played that way in a long time so... I can say with confidence.. you will meet you poker goals one day... it can take a lot of time.. but the wait can be very rewarding. Starting off.. setting goals that are attainable and going from there. That is what I believe will make or break a starting player... willingness to be patient enough to attain goals that are definable and reasonable and make new goals and so on from there.

I will mention one of my worst beats, online at least. There have been so many that it would be impossible to just pick one out and say that....that was the worst. This one I have told about before, but not everywhere and it involves not just a bad beat hand, but a self inflicted bad beat lol! I hadn't been playing online too long and was just playing one of PokeStars freeroll qualifiers to the 2k finals. It was a NL holdem tourney with 12,000 entrants. I played quite a few of these back then(getting close to 3 years ago now). This was when the top 99 finishers qualified for a 2k final. It was getting down to the wire and I had over 78k in chips with 104 left. A hand came up where I had A,K suited... and in the BB. Blinds were like in the 8k range or so.. and a lot of short stacks smaller than mine were left ..so no problem for me to qualify. Well... the first four stacks limped in.. the next raised 2x... the chip leader(with nearly 750,000 or so in chips calls... SB folded and I called. The flop came A,A,K! I slow played it with 2x BB bet.... a bunch of flolds .. and one raiser! The chip leader calls and I did too. Soo... 3 of us left in the hand.. and I'm thinking this hand is mine without a doubt! The turn is a 6. I pushed all in and so did the next player.. who btw.. had K,K! We both are all in now and the chip leader calls! The river is a 6 and the chip leader shows 6,6!!!! Other player goes out 100th(he had more chips than I did to start the hand) and I went out in 101st! We both did the stupidest thing possible... we played a hand when we where guaranteed a seat in the final by just folding until a few more players with much shorter stacks fall by the wayside! A very huge bad beat hand for me? Yes... but a much stupider decision to even play ANY hand when in a qualifier. I learned the hard way.... bad beats WILL come... it's just a matter of when! Also, when in a qualifier...QUALIFY!

I had a worst FAIL couple days before while playing maxxpoker on facebook

Blinds were low and I played lose, so I call with 8 6 ...

On flop - 8 6 Q

Now I have 2 pairs, and one idiot who raised every hand before does a little raise, i call...

Now on Turn - 8 6 Q 8

I now have FULL HOUSE and calling ALL-IN to give that bluffing bastard a lesson.

That Idiot calls..

River - 8 6 Q 8 Q

I think I won with that FULL HOUSE, but can you imagine, that idiot he had Q 3 and he raised and called with these cards!!! And he got 3-rd Qeen on river, so he got better full house than mine! What a sick river actually!!!