What is truly a "bad beat" in poker?

[fundiver199]

A bad beat means, that one player was significantly ahead early in the hand, but then got drawn out on and ended up losing. There is no clear definition of, what “significantly ahead” means, and sometimes we might react emotionally like, it’s a bad beat, when our TT lose to AQ all-in preflop. Or when our flopped top pair end up losing to an opponent, who flopped a flushdraw with a live overcard. But realistically those situations are not bad beats, since we are supposed to lose them almost as often, as we win them.

A cooler is a situation, where two players both have so strong hands, that it would be a significant mistake by the player with the worst hand to not play for all the chips. The most classic example is KK vs. AA preflop, unless when stacks are very deep, and there is crazy action. Coolers can also turn into bad beats, if in this example all the chips go in preflop, as they should, and KK then ends up winning. Other example of typical coolers are set over set on a dry board and flush over flush with only 3 cards to a flush on the board.

 

[nba2009]

I define a bad bet when a player with a very bad initial hand and very low % probabilities manages to win the hand on the river, although in my opinion the bad bet is overrated. In the end it is a game of probabilities and both take into account the 2 card table and its chances of winning

 

[Stringy]

welll damnnn

 

[dzsire]

For me, a bad beat is when you are beaten on the river from a hand that is almost always a winner (which means that you can be beaten by a maximum of 1-2 cards and it will come down).
Of course, it's also a bed beat when two AAs are all-in and one of them has a flush on the turn or on the river.
It is not by chance that such battles remain in one's memory more than giant winners, because they are more painful.

 

[kley126]

a bad beat series losing a winning hand with the highest percentage against a hand with the least chance of winning and this happens

 

[RENEY444]

Unexpected, flop , turn and river beats are always annoying , but what really gets to me is being disconnected during a big hand ( from wifi trouble , laptop issues , or problems with the online poker site itself ).Also , I really get tilted when poker sites do software updates and all my saved 'player notes' and 'color codes ' vanish ! That has happened several times and it drives me crazy .

 

[okeedokalee]

Being concerned with "bad beats" harms your poker.
As long as you have played the hand correctly, that is +EV, the outcome doen't matter.
If the opponent who gave you the "bad beat" played badly, make a note and exploit his wrong play next time he opposes you.
Try and see the BB as an opportunity.
We all get them. Just move on play correctly and the variance will ultimately favour you.

 

[Natta777]

There are so many correct and interesting answers that my answer will be like a repetition of many others. I, like other forum participants, believe that a bad beat in poker is when a superior hand loses at showdown.

 

[john_entony]

Well for me a "bad beat" is when I was the favorite before the river, and on the river my opponent gets lucky and gets the card he wanted. And it doesn't matter what combination comes to my opponent: second pair, trips, straight, flush or full house. For me, all of these things are considered a bad beat. And, unfortunately, I face such disappointments very often.

 

[Miyagi not miyaji]

Bad beat is when I'm the favorite to win the pot but my opponent hits his outs.

It's not a bad beat when I suck out my one outer. That's variance. 😁😂

 

[lilu80]

For me, bad beat is only when the opponent had very little chance of winning, but only when fate decided in the next stage of the game and in the earlier stage of the game he was the winning player with a huge percentage advantage.
We can't talk about a bad beat after we played all the hands and it turned out that we lost just referring to the fact that we had much better cards before the flop. A lot depends on what the whole game was like and what our games were.

Example:
Villain in late position has AA.
All players match.
Hero in BB position is 45o
Villain decides to play slowplay.
FLOP: A67. Villain again check.
TURN: A673
Villain play bet. Hero play massive overbet and allin. Villain call.
RIVER: A673K

A frequent scenario of incorrect assessment of bad beat.
In this case above, Villain looks at his AA starting cards after losing and begins to complain that he had AA after all and was so unlucky here, because he lost with 45o and called it bad beat. Wrong for me. He will even take a picture of all the cards on the table showing his AA and rival 45o and the cards on the table A673K and even showing this picture to his friends won't make it a bad beat.
In this case, one cannot speak of a bad beat, because the player participated at an earlier stage of the game in the hands and it was also his decision that influenced the fact that he lost and not only fate. He was a loser at an earlier stage because of how he played.

Now let's assume the same cards but the players played for everything before the flop. Only fate decides here. In fact, AA cards against 45o have a very significant advantage. AA cards lose with 45o but the player made no other decision. In this case, it's just a bad beat!

 

[BOXING71]

A "bad beat" in poker is like being bitten by a rubber shark. It's the moment when you're holding a pocket pair of aces, feeling like you're on top of the world, only to be crushed by someone with a 7 and 2 offsuit who somehow manages to hit a straight or a flush. It's that unexpected punch to the gut, the slap in the face that reminds you that poker is just as much about luck as it is about skill. So, next time you experience a bad beat, remember to laugh it off, because in poker, even the absurd can happen.

 

[laihuynh]

The worst game was that I held off the AA when the last two cards dealt gave the opponent a barrel hall.

 

[sidd4rt4]

when you have all the percent chance to win and you stil lose the hand

 

[puzzlefish]

There are already a few good definitions in this thread that I agree with. I would define it as an outcome at showdown where one player played their hand correctly, mathematically speaking, and where their opponent blundered against the odds and won anyway. A bad beat doesn't have to have a certain severity cutoff in terms of how many outs there were for the player that came from behind to win it.

 

[Marshmalo1994]

I think that the truly deffinition is when you are a 95% favorite, that means that there's just 2 cards out of +40 that beats you.
But my actual bad beat depends on the prize that I lose the chance to win. I recently share a situation where I was one place away from winning a Silver PowerPath Pass.
The hand before, the shortest stack was saved by the river (he had just 10%), and in the very next hand I lost in a 70-30 situation also in the river.

 

[hobojim1247]

I only consider it to be a bad beat if someone hits a ONE or TWO outer on the river to win the hand . The rest I consider to be unlucky of a cooler.

My most memorable hand was on pokerstars . I flopped a set of 8s got all in against a set of 6s. turn was 6 and I am cussing , when I see a rivered 8 for quad 8s to his quad 6s. I heard him cussing , I think. lol

 

[Balou1982]

BAD BEAT can cost you tournament life or on cash table you loose 100% of your cash deposit ;-)!

If you play a lot of poker and different kinds like omaha, 6+, stud and so on you will know the possibility of bad beats isnt that small as you think!

A good definiton for me is:

In poker, bad beat is a subjective term for a hand in which a player with what appear to be strong cards nevertheless loses. It most often occurs where one player bets the clearly stronger hand and their opponent makes a mathematically poor call that wins with any subsequent dealing to complete the hand.

For me it is necessary that the winner is holding a weak hand like in replies posted before : i look espially @example like A9os vs. Q8s and Board is

A-9-9 - J - 10 - no action preflop and on flop

at turn villain with Q-8s is still holding nothing in his hands against full house A-9, usually when you are in position with Q-8s and you mind if villain is holding a 9-J or 9-A or maybe 99 but you should know that only a ten(clubs) would be the exact card to hit straight flush and to win the hand because every other clubs to a flush wouldnt be enough if villain is holding full house(A-9) or 4 of a kind (99) .
Playing 100 times this hand i think you loose 96-99times with Q-8s.

 

[Sebbour]

How do you define a true bad beat in poker?

Well, I define a true bad beat little different than most. Several things has to happen, not just turnaround in hands. I have good example.

Several months ago I was playing CC Hold'em Championship and it's a final game, Game 8. I'm 3rd in standings (seven tournaments that were already played). Only first three places gets the prize. There are only 14 players left and 13 players gets the points (technically a bubble). If I finish in the points I'm second in the standings after final game ends (because a player that is currently in 2nd position in standings is already out). If I go out in 14th position I still have the chance but 4 players that are behind me mustn't end first and second in that tournament. One can, but not two (because I'll lose even 3rd place).

I'm in late position (cut off), I'm around 12th position in chips (I don't remember how many blinds but not many - up to 4 or 5BB max). I get KK and everyone folded to me. And I'm thinking what to do, I'm waiting to see if anyone will go out before I play them, but no one does and I decide to jam (I'm not sure someone would go out before I'm blinded out). One player calls (he got me covered) and has Ax and I lose the hand because he gets the A on the board (I think he got A on the flop).

After I was out I'm thinking, okay, I still have the chance. Two players finished not high enough but the other two players finished 1st and 2nd in that tournament and I finished 5th in general standings.

That's what I call true bad beat 8situations like that).

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[VVi10]

In my opnion a true bad beat in poker is when you have a really sequence of many bad beats hands or tournaments going on in a short period of time.

 

[MAGICUZ]

Bad beats are an integral part of poker, and therefore no player is immune from them.The natural reaction of any player who gets hit by a bad beat is an irrepressible desire to tell the whole world about it. Players usually seek sympathy and understanding from their comrades, as well as confirmation that the loss was not their own fault. And while I completely understand them, complaining about bad beats at the table is a sign of terrible poker etiquette. Most of your comrades won’t care, because they themselves have found themselves in such situations countless times. The only thing you will achieve in this way is to hang a target on yourself with the inscription “I’m on tilt.” This is part of the game, no one can hide from this.In recent years I always look at it with a smile

 

[WrongUsername]

bad beat is to lose AA against AA like i saw at the 1 million wsop hand.

 

[Magallaneroy]

Bad beat is in poker when you lose a hand to an opponent who had little chance and who will link a winning combination on the river.

 

[R.Melnyk77]

For me, a bad beat is when I actually had a stronger hand than my opponent's hand, but unfortunately my opponent won. Such cases happen very often, and I consider all such cases to be bad beats.

 

[WhiskeyFix]

There can be so many different variations of this

People hitting one outers, flushes beating straights, full houses losing to a better full house, top pairs getting hit by two pair undercards (getting a monster hand AA-JJ get turned on by someone with two pair)
etc