If anyone has a Badbeat story, I don’t wanna hear it

If anyone has a badbeat story, I don’t wanna hear it. My exit of GPS Sheffield was worse, so save it for someone who has some sympathy.

What happened to me? Glad you asked, I love telling badbeat stories, I just don’t like hearing them.

I was already on my second bullet after a couple of accidents on day 1a, but I was in great shape for day 1b, 10 hours sleep, nothing to drink, full English in the pub, and a good table draw.

After a pretty uneventful first four levels where I barely lost a hand, I’d moved my 25k starting stack over 40k playing my absolute best. Then it happened.

And when I say it, think Gus Hansen v Daniel Negreanu on High Stakes Poker all those years ago.

Yeah, it was that sick, and I don’t use that word lightly

I opened to 1000 with pocket fours at 200/400 and picked up one caller, John Bousfield, fresh from his final table at GUKPT Stockton.

John’s a mate of mine, but like any mates in poker, we show that by trying to bash each other up, so while we know plenty about each other’s games, we also want to get one up on the other.

I flopped a set, K-5-4 with two spades, and c-bet 1400. John called and we saw a five on the turn.

We’d both started the hand with 38k, almost 100bb effective, and I considered check raising here, but I think that rules a lot of bluffs out of my range, and John knows I can be stubborn and determined to win pots I’ve no right to, so it felt correct to continue betting with my full house.

I bet 2400 and John dwelled for a while before making it 5600. He’s certainly capable of doing this with air, and more to the point knows that I’ve fired two barrels with nowt more than I’ve had hot dinners, and I’m not going without on the dinner stakes.

Again I thought raising here would tell too much about the strength of my hand, so I called, intending to lead a lot of rivers, certainly if no spade fell, though John’s most likely holding was K-Q type hands, sometimes a five.

A four fell on the river, giving me quads, lovely jubbly, how do I get as much money in now as possible.

I’d guess in my live poker career of eight years I’ve made pure quads less than 10 times, maybe less than five, so it’s important to get the most out of my big hand.

We had 30k effective, so I led 7500, leaving enough for John to bluff shove if he wanted to, or value shove worse hands.

He thought for a while and moved all in for 30k.

I snap called and got shown….quad fives

I’d manage to hit the one river card that would cost me my whole stack. How fortunate. I’ve never seen quads over quads in my career, and in some places I’d win the badbeat jackpot.

Here, I won the chance to pay £70 for a standard class train back to London.The trip to Sheffield had started in decent fashion, and on day 1a I’d got up to 60k before I lost a race, though admittedly one I shouldn’t have been in.

A 60-year-old guy who looked like he was playing poker for the first time kept limping into pots, raising only once in four hours, 4x-ing it, and showing kings. His second raise was UTG, but was a min raise so felt weaker, and with him playing so loose, I felt like I wanted to get in pots with him.

Next to speak, I three-bet A-9dd and he was the only one called. The flop fell jack hi with two diamonds and he donked 2500. He’d donked a lot, once after cold calling a three bet form the small blind, donking an ace-high flop and showing two tens after the raiser, who folded, showed two jacks.

He’d also donked all three streets with K-5 on a king-high board, and I just felt this was perfect

I had the nut flush draw and my hand was strong on the flop so I could get a lot of money in now.

I made it 7400, he shoved 25k and I had to call. He had played two kings very neatly, and I couldn’t find an ace or a diamond and I was back to 30k.

I felt with position on the guy I would win them back, but five minutes later I was moved.

First hand in the big blind, the small blind with a big stack min raises to 800. I call Q-9 and we see an A-J-T flop. He leads 1000, I call and we see an eight on the turn, completing my straight.

He checks, I bet 2700, he calls. The river comes a queen, meaning any king is a higher straight, and he checks again.

I value bet 3500, after some thought

After all, there’s not many hands he can have that contain a king, and I can get calls off two pairs and sets, as there’s not many nines or kings I can be in the hand with either.

He check min-raises, I sigh call and he shows me A-K, the only hand he can have that contains a king really.

I pass for three rounds, then the big blind goes walkabout and I raise to 1000 off a 16k stack with pocket threes.

Simon Deadman on the button three-bet to 2300, and it’s such a lovely set-up with no big blind, so it looks like I’m stealing and he’s re-stealing.

I four-bet shove and he snaps with pocket tens, I can’t even get in a race, not that I’d have much chance of winning it against him.

I played the PLO later on day 1a and built up a lovely big stack with two tables left

The big stack was to my direct left and was pretty clueless, so I was hoping to get into a big pot with him.

I managed it, trapping him into having to call off his stack with the bare nut flush draw against my top two pairs for a chip lead pot. Immediate service for the draw on the turn and no pair up and it was off to bed and ready for day 1b.

Please don’t ask me how that worked out though; I don’t wanna talk about it.

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