Bad Beats Pt. 3: The Elation of the One Outer

Too many bad beats can frustrate even the most even-tempered player. There are many ways to stop the mild upset of bad beats from intensifying into full-blown tilt. One method for doing this is remembering fondly the times you laid a bad beat on someone else.

I was barely in the money of a large field tournament. I had continually run into some bad luck on the bubble, as I watched my once-large stack get chopped up by some bad beats. I called a short stack's all in with AK, and lost to AJ (three outs). I called a very short all in with JT, and lost to 98 (2-1 underdog). After the bubble broke (we were barely in the money), I found my once-commanding position was looking desperate.

A couple of blind steals later, I had a slightly above average stack, with about 30 big blinds. I picked up QQ in the big blind. A loose-aggressive player in middle position raised to 4 big blinds. The effective stacks were about 24 big blinds (I had him slightly covered). This particular player had continually shown aggression after the flop, and had bet and raised when catching any pair or better on the flop. I didn't raise big preflop, thinking that I could extract more value on the hand. My plan was to play extremely aggressively on any flop not containing an ace or king. I would evaluate the betting if an ace or king came.

The flop came with A Q x. I had flopped a set, and this opponent was highly likely to bet the flop with anything, even a miss. I thought that a check-raise would be perfect, since there weren't any obvious draws on the board, so a check-call would be suspicious.

I checked, he bet 2/3 of the pot, making the pot 16 BB, and leaving him about 14 behind. If I smooth call here, he is probably shutting down unless he has some kind of hand. Thinking that I am only gaining more chips if he has something, I went ahead and raised all in. His snap-call didn't concern me much, as any-ace hands were certainly part of his range.

He had AA. Even loose players are allowed to be dealt aces occasionally, I guess, but I was a huge underdog. I had precisely one out – the fourth queen. The turn card was a blank, but the title of the article gives the river away. I caught my miracle one out, the case queen, on the river to win a huge pot as a 22-1 underdog.

The point of the hand is not the tournament strategy, although there is something to be learned about extracting value. The fact that I ran into a monster is just one of the chances we take. Being afraid of monster hands, especially against aggressive players, is a loser route.

The benefit of this hand, for me, is remembering it when I need a positive lift. Winning that hand put me back near the top of the leader board, and I was able to ride that all the way to the final table, where I cashed for over forty times my buy in. The next time I lose to a two-outer early in a tournament or for a whole buy in in a cash game, I will remember the time that my own bad beat propelled me to a big payday.