The Bad Beat Spin

I played side games at the Rio in June this year during the WSOP. The games were quite good. My first night there I got into a $10-20 Hold'em game. I won only one pot in the first 4 hours. Still, it was a sizeable pot and I managed to find myself even and feeling good about winning for the night if I could just get a few hands to hold up.

Then this hand came up: a solid, tight player raised from first position before the flop and I made it 3 bets with 2 Aces, hoping to isolate what I thought was a big pair. The player behind me called as well as the small blind and when the original raiser re-raised me I thought, "he's probably got 2 Kings," which he later confirmed, but anyway I raised again and it was capped. A $200 pot already. The flop came Ace, 9, 5 with the Ace and 5 of spades. I figured if I could avoid the flush I'd win a nice pot. The small blind bet out and the solid player mucked his 2 Kings and I raised to make the possible flush draws pay. The other straggler behind me folded and the small blind called. I'll call him Mr. Wu.

The turn card was the 2 of hearts and Mr. Wu bet and I raised and then he re-raised me. What? Raise 3 Aces? Just call on the flop? What was going on? The only hand that beat me now was if he held a 3-4 to make the wheel, the best possible hand next to my 3 Aces. I thought about Mr. Wu's play up until that point. He was very liberal before the flop so he could have called with a 3-4, especially if it was suited. In addition he had a few hands earlier just checked a very strong hand on the river when it was checked to him so it was unlikely he'd get carried away too far with a hand such as Ace-9 or even 9-9 or 5-5. The best play for me at this point was obviously to call and see if the board would pair giving me a full house.

Lo and behold a 2 came on the river, giving me Aces full and Mr. Wu bet and I raised. Aces full. I figure I'm up a nice $400 and rolling now. Then he re-raised, and I re-raised thinking how sweet it was to make Aces full and get raised and then a funny thing happened. He raised again. I paused. Something very bad was happening here. Well, I ruled out 4 deuces, but I did notice that the 2 was a spade, giving him a straight flush wheel if indeed he did hold the 3 and 4 of spades. I called, he showed me the 3-4 of spades and as he swept the pot Mr. Wu said, "I almost didn't play that hand."

Not too much later I sought out a few friends to tell them of this horrible occurrence. I got sympathy, whistles, Wow's! and some head-shaking disbelief. What I did was typical. I put the bad beat spin on it by saying, "I lost with Aces full to a 3-4 when he called 2 and 1/2 bets cold before the flop." The predictable, "How did you lose?" followed, which let me wallow in my loss and the unlucky odds of losing with Aces full.

It is indeed unlucky to lose with Aces full, especially in Hold'em and especially if you hold 2 Aces in your hand. This may happen only once or twice in the life-time of a full time poker player. It is the only time it has ever happened to me. But in truth it wasn't a bad beat. It was a loose game so lots of players are likely to call before the flop with weak holdings and beat out much stronger starting hands. That is poker. And after the flop Mr. Wu was only a small underdog with a flush draw and a gut-shot straight draw. Then he took the lead on the turn and never relinquished it.

What really bothered me when I thought about it was that I didn't act on the information I had. Up to that point I had paid attention to each player and thought about what they might be holding. When it came time to put this information to use I disregarded it because I made a big hand. What good is insight if you don't act on it? In truth, I played the hand poorly by putting in at least one extra raise on the river. After all, I saw that he was just checking or calling with strong hands after the flop so he would not have re-raised me on the river without 4 deuces or the straight flush wheel. What really burned was that I had put him on exactly the 3 and 4 of spades and chose to ignore this information when I most needed it.

My only retrospective comfort was that Mr. Wu had the opportunity to get all my chips. He could have easily put me on 3 Aces and just checked and called on the turn. If he does this and then bets out on the river he would have trapped me for several more bets, maybe even all of my chips. I would not have suspected the straight flush wheel. I would not even have felt so bad if this had happened. But since he was such an obvious player his manner was excited when he made the wheel on the turn. I was tipped off to his hand and might have lost much less than I did, but failed to capitalize on this opportunity.

It's easy to lose focus in poker. Sexy cocktail waitresses, bright lights, big piles of chips, people drinking, laughing, swearing. Then you get a huge hand and get excited. You win or lose and your mood will swing accordingly. This is what happened to me. It was my second time in Vegas, my first night of this trip, things were going slowly and I got overly excited about my big hand and briefly forgot what I knew. Avoid the temptation to get caught up in it. Poker is a game of many decisions. To separate yourself from the competition you need to learn to improve and make better decisions than your opponents. It sounds simple, but at the table it requires great stamina and discipline to make the best possible decision at every given moment. Your goal should be to play perfect poker. Always.