Bad Beat Poker

It was in my early days as a poker player and I had a fairly small bankroll to fall back on. One of my friend  had asked me to come with him to the casino in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Poker is a very popular game here, but the tables at the casinos seldom see full ring games and those attending the casino often play a crazy game with a lot of attitude. We sat down at a no limit table with six players. Blinds were $3/$3 and the maximum buy-in $300.

One of the guys had just lost a good-sized pot and was cursing his luck loudly, yelling at the winner of the pot. With this upset guy in seat 6, I sat down in seat 5 and played a very tight game. There was a subtle war going on between the guy who lost the big pot and the guy who won it. The loser of the pot commented on every play made and was generally disrespectful. My friend told him that perhaps he shouldn't play poker if he couldn't handle bad beats. The loser made big bets and won most pots on the table, often with an annoying grin to his face. He was either in a constant state of tilt or simply a maniac without a trace of social manner. No matter what, it was his stack I was aiming for.

About an hour into the session and a close to breakeven game I picked up K J off suit on the small blind. It was folded to me and the battle of the blinds began, with Mr. Talkative as my opponent. I raised it up to 4x his big blind. He placed a big grin in his face and told me, just like Teddy told youngster McDermott, to "stay away from this one, it's not good for you" whereupon he came over the top on me, making it another 8 big bets to go. I called and the pot was $72 with the flop to come. The dealer flips up the three cards, showing a rainbow of Q 10 9. 

 

I was jumping up and down on the inside before I got to my senses and put in a weak bet of $16, yelling for a playback. He looked at his cards and pushed in another $40. It was a big moment for me and eager to keep him in the pot, I doubled his bet, making it another $40 to go. He looked me in the eyes and said "some people never learn", pushed his remaining $300 in the middle and leaned back. Satisfied enough, I call with my remaining $200 and flipped my nuts over. A bit angry he turns his two cards face up, showing J 10 without a trace of flush draw. Certain that I couldn't lose, I watched the turn. It revealed a Q. Still sure there was only one outcome to the hand. The river shows a third Q and my former nuts were worthless.

Admitting a little luck but claiming it is something you deserve rather than randomly get, he scooped the pot of $640 home in front of my eyes. As I left the table, I let him know how I felt about him and his play. Beaten and broke, I headed home.

Showman of Poker Game: Stu Ungar

In December 2009 poker celebrated the tenth anniversary of the death of Stu Ungar - still arguably the greatest poker player in history (even if not for some the best poker player, he was undoubtedly the best player as gin rummy is known). 


Though he was an extremely troubled life, his talent at all card games were all simple men staggering, and some anecdotes about him are legendary: his participation in tournaments to thirty 10 000 USD on which it won ten, including three Main Event of the WSOP (two wins in a row); up to $ 30 000 paid on the river with a single height 10; almost telepathic qualities that enabled him to achieve this status in its own player.


Despite extraordinary skills, Ungar experienced major setbacks. He was a compulsive gambler and a drug addict, who was regularly losing millions of dollars in horse racing and drug use. Ungar is probably the greatest example of problem gamblers have evolved among the best in the world. It was certainly the most gifted who ever existed, but when we enumerate the factors necessary for success at the tables, such as money management, emotional control and discipline, he was terrible.

 Ungar compare to another such legend Chip Reese, who despite great discretion throughout his career (mainly because of its limited participation in tournaments due to its better performance in cash games), had earned - and kept - millions dollars while being able to remain perpetually calm and serene.

Who is the best of both? He is able to display your cards, then losing millions on tilt or fall into bad habits? Or is it that you largely dominates, does not tilt, always playing with a monetary security and raising millions of dollars to anyone sitting at his table? In my opinion this is Chip Reese, although Ungar was one of the biggest in the game, it was far to appear in the best professionals - it takes more than just skills.

If it obscures his faults, Ungar was one of the most real poker. His generosity and heart were legendary, and his death was a huge loss. To put his character in perspective, I leave you with a history of Doyle Brunson, speaking of this generosity. So they both walked in the street a man came up to ask if Ungar could lend him some money. Ungar immediately released $ 100 and gave the tip. Then they continued walking Brunson asked his friend how he knew this man. Ungar replied "How do I know? If I knew I would have give $ 200.