A while back I was playing a few hands of Texas Hold ’em online with some old friends and a few new ones. When someone mentioned the worst beat they ever had and explained that he was holding a 7 and a 9. The flop was 8, 10 and J of diamonds giving him a Diamond Straight Flush (7 to J) and he splashed all in, he was snap called by his friend who was siting with a Q K of diamonds. The turn was an A and an A giving him the dreaded Royal Straight Flush (10 to A). That certainly qualified as a bad beat. I was reminded of the worst, and craziest bad beat that I had written about several years ago and decided to repost here for your enjoyment
Back half a dozen years or so I was kicking back with a few friends after getting knocked out of our friendly local tourney, enjoying a cold draft and laughing at the BS being bantered around. Someone asked, “What’s the craziest bad beat y’all have seen in a tourney?” One of the guys said he watched a video of this year’s Big One for One Drop at the WSOP. This was when Connor Drinan and Cary Katz, both of whom had paid one million dollars to play, and both of whom picked up pocket aces. Drinan with ace of diamonds and ace of clubs vs Katz’s ace of spades and ace of hearts. After raising and re-raising each other a few times Drinan splashes his poker chips all in and Katz snap calls him.
The flop came down with 2d – Kh – 5h, the turn and the river were both hearts giving Katz a flush and knocking Drinan out in 18th place and out of the money. That definitely qualifies as a bad beat, and certainly many will say it’s the worst ever because of the million dollar buy in.
However, in my mind, the worst beat ever is still the battle between Justin Phillips and Moriyuki Mabuchi at the 2009 WSOP. Mabuchi bet after the river – Phillips raised – Mabuchi splashed his chips all in and Phillips called. The board showed A of hearts, 9 of clubs, Queen-Ten-A of diamonds. Phillips turned over a J-K of diamonds for a Royal Flush and Mabushi turned over the Ace of spades and the Ace of clubs for Quad Aces. Insane beat. Quad Aces destroyed by a Royal Flush. The chance of a royal flush and quad aces happening in the same hand is 1 in 2.7 billion! To me that qualifies it as the worst bad beat ever, despite the money.
These days seems like you just finish one poker tournament in time to get ready for the next one. Around the globe, the biggest tournament, of course, is the World Series of Poker; in second place comes the Aussie Millions – Australia, followed by the Latin America Poker Tour – Brazil, then the World Series of Poker Circuit event in New Orleans. There are way too many for us to give you a complete list, but we will do our very best to keep you informed with plenty of time for you to gather your $$$, your senses, and of course, giving you enough time to sit at any poker table and hone your skills.
For now, here’s one for you to keep your eye on; perhaps you can shoot for it next year as it has already sold out for this year. In fact, hard as it is to believe, it sold out on the very first day with a buy-in of $300,000! There are a total of 50 players which created a prize pool of $15 million with $5 million going to the winner.
The 2017 Super High Roller Bowl sold out so fast that it has been confirmed as the World Championship of High Stakes Poker. 35 seats were sold out the first day and the remaining 15 seats were held back and will be chosen by the Aria Resort and Casino.
Every player wants to play in The Super High Roller Bowl. Not everyone can get in. The following are the confirmed players for the tournament:
Christian Christner
Antonio Esfandiari
Igor Kurganov
Matt Berkey
Connor Drinan
Steffen Sontheimer
Jake Schindler
Pratyush Buddiga
Rainer Kempe
Sean Winter
John Juanda
Dominik Nitsche
Christoph Vogelsang
Stefan Schillhabel
Andrew Robl
Brian Rast
Bryn Kenney
Fedor Holz
David Peters
Jason Les
Ben Tollerene
Tom Marchese
Erik Seidel
Sam Soverel
Scott Seiver
Ankush Mandavia
David Einhorn
Nick Petrangelo
Haralabos Voulgaris
Isaac Haxton
Andrew Lichtenberger
Doug Polk
Ben Sulsky
Byron Kaverman
Koray Aldemir
The remaining 15 players will be announced by the Aria Resort and Casino. If your name is not on the list above, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to get in next year. Good luck to y’all.
We’ve always said that sometimes, no matter how good you think your hand is, you may still get beat. That’s what happened to Motoyuki Mabuchi when he hit quad aces on the river and shoved all in. Mabuchi knew his hand was the nuts, but then Justin Phillips snap-called him and everyone in the room gasped as Phillips showed a royal flush that sent Mabuchi to the rails shaking his head.
Bad beats happen all the time but they are seldom as impressive as the beat that Phillips exercised over Mabuchi. This past year at the “Big One for One Drop” we witnessed another huge bad beat. This time it was for a million dollars. Cary Katz, under the gun, bets $225,000 with pocket aces. The table folded around to Connor Drinan who re-raised to $580,000, then Katz four-bet to $2,000,000. Katsz tries to give some friendly advice. He says “Save your money kid, you can’t win every pot.” Drinan smirks and shoves all in to $4, 970,000, Katz snap-calls and both players show pocket bullets. Drinan held the ace of diamonds and ace of clubs while Katz held the ace of hearts and the ace of spades. Everyone assumed they would split the pot; in fact, it was a 96 percent chance they would. But then a heart came up on the flop. And another on the turn and the kill was another heart on the river giving Katz the flush and the win. Possibly the worst beat in the history of poker at a $1 million buy-in World Series of Poker tournament.
With a name like “Pocket Bullets” Paris, I especially felt Drinan’s pain as he stepped back from the poker table. Damn! Watch the video below and you too could share in Drinan’s pain.
I was kicking back with a few friends after getting knocked out of our friendly local tourney, enjoying a cold draft and laughing at the BS being bantered around. Someone asked, “What’s the craziest bad beat y’all have seen in a tourney?” One of the guys said he watched a video of this year’s Big One for One Drop at the WSOP. This was when Connor Drinan and Cary Katz, both of whom had paid one million dollars to play, and both of whom picked up pocket aces. Drinan with ace of diamonds and ace of clubs vs Katz’s ace of spades and ace of hearts. After raising and re-raising each other a few times Drinan splashes his poker chips all in and Katz snap calls him.
The flop came down with 2d – Kh – 5h, the turn and the river were both hearts giving Katz a flush and knocking Drinan out in 18th place and out of the money. That definitely qualifies as a bad beat, and certainly many will say it’s the worst ever because of the million dollar buy in.
However, in my mind, the worst beat ever is still the battle between Justin Phillips and Moriyuki Mabuchi at the 2009 WSOP. Mabuchi bet after the river – Phillips raised – Mabuchi splashed his chips all in and Phillips called. The board showed A of hearts, 9 of clubs, Queen-Ten-A of diamonds. Phillips turned over a J-K of diamonds for a Royal Flush and Mabushi turned over the Ace of spades and the Ace of clubs for Quad Aces. Insane beat … Quad Aces destroyed by a Royal Flush. The chance of a royal flush and quad aces happening in the same hand is 1 in 2.7 billion! To me that qualifies it as the worst bad beat ever, despite the money.
Jim “Pocket Bullets” Paris
and a 9
giving him the dreaded Royal Straight Flush (10
For now, here’s one for you to keep your eye on; perhaps you can shoot for it next year as it has already sold out for this year. In fact, hard as it is to believe, it sold out on the very first day with a buy-in of $300,000! There are a total of 50 players which created a prize pool of $15 million with $5 million going to the winner.
By: Pocket Bullets Paris