Bad Beats Pt. 2: Understanding Bad Beats

One universal trigger for tilt is the classic bad beat. A bad beat happens when the money goes in the pot, and one player is a big favorite over the other. If the underdog wins, a bad beat has occurred.

Tournaments

Bad beats are common in tournaments, since the short stack play means that there are many all-in situations before the flop. Tournament players don't have the option of reloading their stack (outside of certain rebuy tournaments, anyway), so starting a hand with just a small number of big blinds is quite common (whereas some cash game players never have less than 100 big blinds in their stack).

If a player in early position picks up 88 with seven big blinds in their stack, their best move is all in. If they get called by QQ but spike a set on the flop, a bad beat has occurred. It's frustrating for the QQ player, but criticizing the play of the initial raiser is pointless here. The first player made a reasonable play, was unlucky that someone else had a better starting hand, but got lucky enough to win despite long odds.

Coin Flips

A bad beat is not a coin flip hand – 88 versus AK all-in, for example – since neither hand is a heavy favorite when the money goes in. It is true that being on the losing end of too many coin flips in a row may feel like a bad beat, though, especially if you're the one with the underpair (which is a slight favorite).

A bad beat is also not a deep stack situation when very little of the money goes in before the flop. Imagine a full ring (nine or ten seats) no limit holdem cash game. All players have at least 80 big blinds in their stack. You are third to act preflop with AA, and raise to three times the blind. Three players behind you call, and I have 87 suited on the button.

Due to the enormous implied odds here, I can call and take a flop and consider it a good play. The flop comes 654. With your overpair, you bet and raise at every opportunity. I flopped the straight, so I have no hesitation getting all in if I can. If you whine and moan about the bad beat you took, I know you are a poor player, subject to tilt, and will make note of it.

When the Money Goes In

When the money goes into the pot makes a big difference in defining bad beats. You willingly invested at least 77 big blinds after the flop on the strength of your overpair. Yes, you were a big favorite preflop, but only 3 blinds were invested then. You were a huge underdog afterwards, when 77 blinds went into the pot. A bad beat in that situation would be if you caught runner-runner like A6 on the turn and river for the full house. You were a 33-1 underdog when most of the money went in the pot but still won. That's a bad beat.

If you raise preflop in a short stacked tournament situation with AA, and I call with 87 suited, leaving me less than one big blind in my stack, I have laid a bad beat even if I get my miracle 654 flop. (The wisdom of calling there is definitely open for question, but that tournament strategy is not in the scope of this article).