Top 5 Sickest Beats At The World Series

No-one wants to hear about bad beats, unless the story involves the world’s top players getting sucked out on!

Tears and tantrums often come along for the ride when the bad beat hits, or just plain disbelief at the horrible turn of events. But before we get started, let’s just agree on what a bad beat is…

Probably the most basic definition of a bad beat is when a poker hand that is a huge favorite to win, loses to an underdog hand; the lesser hand catches up and beats the better hand. But a bad beat is more than this.

Even pro players’ definitions differ slightly, but losing a coin-toss isn’t a bad beat. Getting your aces cracked in a multi-way pot when someone hits trips on the flop isn’t a bad beat. But playing a hand really well, getting your opponent to commit all their chips on a bad play, and then watching as they suck out on you with a runner-runner is a bad beat!

Let’s look at our first example, a sick bad beat which reduced the loser, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, to a sniveling wreck…

Matusow’s Tears

The 2004 WSOP Main Event was down to 10 tables when Greg Raymer, who would go on to win the bracelet, raised to $14K from early position with pocket 8’s. Ed Foster decided to re-raise to $45K with his AcQs, which was music to Mike Matusow’s ears.

Sitting with A♦ K♠ and just over 100k in chips, he was desperate to double up and wasted no time at all in shoving. Commentator stated:

Raymer, believing his 8’s were no good, folded, but Foster getting 2-1 odds on a call decided his A♣ Q♠ was still good against Matusow’s shoving range and called the all-in! Great news for Mike…now a 3-1 favourite.

“One time let me get lucky!” shouted Mike, his usual nerves showing through as he jumped up from the table.

And when the flop came…

8♠ 7♣ 5♣

He was 82% to double-up and stay in the Main Event. The turn card…

8♠ 7♣ 5♣ (7♥)

increased his lead and Matusow shouted for a “blank! Deuce! Deuce! Deuce!” Only a queen would be enough to knock him out, and then came the fateful river card…

8♠ 7♣ 5♣ 7♥ (Q♦)

Matusow screamed, “No! No! NO!” as he turned from the table, arms flailing in helplessness. “Why do I deserve this?”

“A catastrophic hit to Mike Matusow who never shies away from showing his emotion”, as

“I played the best poker of my life man!” he said tearfully, while back at the table Greg Raymer had a different view: “Mike was going broke no matter what.”

“This is as brutal as it gets right here!” exclaimed his tablemate, as the cameras cut back to Matusow.

So, the bad beat isn’t just the hand itself, it often encapsulates the entire tournament situation and smashes the hopes and dreams of poker players in one fell blow. Sick!

Cracking aces the hard way

While neither Foster, nor for sure Matusow, could be blamed for ‘bad play’ in the previous hand, the following sick beat is a bit different. One aspect of bad beats is often that someone outplays the other – and only the smallest percentage of hope remains for the ‘idiot end’ of the hand.

We’re back in the Main Event again, this time in 2011, and Shaun Deeb picks up pocket aces, A♦ A♣ – no doubt delighted to see a raise before him of 4600 which he re-pops to 15,600. Behind him, Maximilian Heinzelmann starts to get frisky and makes a play – re-raising to 31,300 with A♠ 6♦!

Of course, whenever we get aces nobody bets in front of us and when we do it ourselves everyone folds behind us! Here all of Deeb’s Sunday’s are about to arrive at once. Kay folds his ten’s and Deeb 5-bets to 68,600!

Apparently there was a big ‘online history’ between Deeb and Heinzelmann, but after reading through 19 pages of a 2+2 thread on this very hand, I am still no closer to understanding Heinzelmann’s decision to now 6-bet all-in into Deeb!

Could he really expect Deeb to be folding here? He must have done, but of course Deeb has the aces and calls, now a 93% favourite to win.

The flop comes

10♥ 6♥ K♠

pairing the German’s 6 and leaving him a 9% for his Main Event life.

The turns helps Heinzelmann slightly…

10♥ 6♥ K♠ (Q♥)

a Jack now chops the pot with the Broadway straight, but the river has other ideas…

10♥ 6♥ K♠ Q♥ (6♣)

and Heinzelmann hits his 2 outer to rake in over 424,000 chips and cripple Deeb!

“That was ridiculous!” was all the commentary booth could say, and thousands of poker fans agreed. Deeb himself took to the web to explain the hand, after reading a lot of hate about Heinzelmann’s play and lucky suck out:

As fate, or irony or luck would have it, Heinzelmann’s own Main Event came to a crushing end the following day, when his aces ran into kings! The 4 diamonds which ran out only helped his opponent and the German was sent to the rails!

Be careful what you wish for!

The next example features one of the best and saddest ‘poker faces’ you will ever see in your hopefully long and lucky lives. It does serve as a warning though – be careful that the poker gods aren’t listening to you!

It was day 4 of the WSOP Main Event in 2013 and the board read….

10♥ 4♥ A♣ 3♣

when Carter Gill moved all-in for 372,000 chips, holding the A♦10♠ for top 2 pair. His opponent David Paredes was contemplating a call, his A♥ Q♦ giving him just top pair.

Gill couldn’t just sit quietly, however, and muttered on about previous hands then said: “If you call you need a queen”, guessing his opponent’s hand correctly!

With this, Paredes called and when the hands turned over Gill was still laughing, saying: “I was right! If you call you need a queen!” His humour was very short-lived however, when the dealer offered up the river card…

10♥ 4♥ A♣ 3♣ (Q♠)

and Gills’s smile turned to ashes along with his Main Event dreams!

“So you wanna play poker for a living, huh?” asked the commentator sadly, his colleague saying, “I’m surprised he’s not slumped over in his chair unconscious until 2017,” as the shocked Gill made his exit.

The moral of this story? That old adage, speak of the devil and he doth appear.

The 9percenter floors Hellmuth

When the National Heads-up Championship title is on the line, and you’re only on the 3rd hand of the match, you don’t really need to make the play Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson made.

When Hellmuth called from the SB with A♥ 3♠, Ferguson decided to raise it holding only 9♥ 2♣ – and again Phil flat-called. The pot was already 56,000 and the flop of…

2♥ 5♥ 9♣

virtually guaranteed more action, Ferguson hitting his 2 pair and Hellmuth having an overcard to the board and an inside straight draw – but is it worth peeling off a 40k bet heads-up in this situation?

When the turn came…

2♥ 5♥ 9♣ (4♥)

Hellmuth’s call proved to be a good one! He’d filled his wheel and was drawing to a (straight) flush.

“This is a very dangerous situation here for Chris Ferguson,” said the commentator. “He has 2 pair and Hellmuth has a very disguised straight.” Jesus checked, and this time Hellmuth bet 40K.

Ferguson, in an attempt to find out where he stood, raised it up to 120,000 and suddenly it seemed as though the championship might be decided right here on the 3rd hand!

“I’m all in!” said Hellmuth, and a shocked Ferguson couldn’t believe it. The sunglasses came off and you could almost hear his brain working feverishly to work out what Phil might be holding. “You hit the flush?” he mumbled.

Eventually Ferguson took a deep breath and said: “The way I played this hand I deserve to lose all my money!” and the chips went in.

A 91% favourite, Hellmuth could only watch in horror as the

2♥ 5♥ 9♣ 4♥ (9♦)

hit on the river, filling Ferguson’s boat and sending Phil crashing to the floor in abject misery! The 9% had hit at the worst time possible, giving Ferguson the match and evening up the best-out-of-three championship score.

“Hellmuth hits the deck as Ferguson hits the lottery and makes the miracle full house!” came the cries from the booth.

And yet, Hellmuth to his eternal credit, took the sick beat incredibly well for once – and even managed to recover in time to win the deciding rubber and lift the title. Even poker horror stories can have happy endings!

Wtf? Aces cracked…by aces!

Our final example may not even be properly classed as a bad beat, as the loser was never, ever ahead in the hand – and his opponent did nothing wrong either – but it still goes down as one of the unluckiest and most expensive losses you’re likely to see at a poker table…

Conor Drinan had paid his $1million (!) buy-in to the Big One for One Drop at the 2014 World Series of Poker and was doing well. He had 5 million chips, only 19 players left in the event and the $15.3 million first prize was definitely in his sights as he picked up A♦ A♣…

Better still, he found a willing partner in Cary Katz, who raised under the gun. Drinan naturally re-popped it and Katz – with a bit of Hollywooding thrown in for good measure, 4-bet.

“Save your money kid!” said Katz, “you can’t win every hand.” Prophetic words as it transpired, but Drinan shoved, Katz immediately called. The cards were turned over…

Drinan: A♦ A♣

Katz: A♠ A ♥

“Bullets?” asked Esfandiari? “Wow, you both have bullets – it’s so sick!” Fellow table-mate Scott Seiver added, again a touch of fate involved:

With a win sitting at 2% each, the chopped pot was the most likely, but when the flop came…

2♦ K♥ 5♥

Katz exclaimed: “Hearts. Hey, I got a free-roll!” and he now had a 5% chance to win. The players chatted amicably: “If I lose now, whatever,” smiled Drinan, and that possibility increased dramatically when the turn card came…

2♦ K♥ 5♥ (4♥)

All the players at the table were smiling and laughing nervously at the prospect of a river heart. “I have a feeling it might,” said Esfandiari, with Seiver replying, “Of course it might…” Katz now had close to a 20% chance of making his flush. The river fell….

2♦ K♥ 5♥ 4♥ (2♥)

And the entire room was in uproar! “Noooooooooo!” screamed the commentators, adding the terrible pun, “Drinan flushed out of this tournament!” just as Seiver apologised “I’m so sorry,” despite not being in the hand!

Katz looked relieved and embarrassed and almost tearful himself, as Drinan sank his head into his chest at having his $15million dreams and $1million buy-in wiped out in the most dramatic fashion.

Lon McEachern in the commentary booth for ESPN described it as “possibly the worst beat in the history of tournament poker” and given the stakes and the way it went down it’s hard to disagree.

Of course, there are a million bad beat stories out there, so if you can think of one which is sicker than the five I’ve just shared, feel free to share it in the comments section below!

But please, no tales of how your Aces lost to pocket deuces after you limped in to trap your opponent and then raised all-in on the turn when you were already dead! That’s not a bad beat – that’s just bad poker!