In the last few weeks I think I’ve seen more suck outs and bad beats and getting 2,3 or 4 outed on the river then I’ve ever experienced before in the 2 or 3 years I’ve been playing poker. And yes, most of them have been against me.

Now I know any experienced poker player will be shouting about the fact that, after all, this is poker, and this kind of thing happens all the time.

Granted.

But when you feel that you’re in a situation were your 80% hands (i.e. Hands were you are 80% favourite to win) are, in fact, losing more than 80% of the time, then I think a bit of a whinge, bitch and moan is in order.

Below are some examples from the last couple of days, of what has for me, become common place over the last few weeks:

Example 1:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 1.1 Tournament, 15/30 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 (t1695)
MP3 (t1315)
CO (t1465)
Button (t2820)
SB (t1990)
BB (t2790)
UTG (t1170)
Hero (UTG+1) (t1460)
MP1 (t1785)

Hero's M: 32.44

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Q, 9
UTG calls t30, Hero calls t30, 2 folds, MP3 bets t90, 3 folds, BB calls t60, UTG calls t60, Hero calls t60

Flop: (t375) 10, A, 4(4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets t30, Hero calls t30, MP3 raises to t120, 1 fold, UTG calls t90, Hero calls t90

Turn: (t735) K(3 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks, MP3 bets t510, 1 fold, Hero raises to t1250 (All-In), MP3 calls t595 (All-In)

River: (t2945) A(2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t2945

Results:
Hero had Q, 9 (flush, Ace high)
MP3 had K, A (full house, Aces over Kings)
Outcome: MP3 won t2945

At the point that all the money went in on the turn, I was a 90% favourite to win the hand and my opponent had only 4 outs to win. This crippled me, leaving me with 145 chips, and I get knocked out a few hands later running Pocket 4’s on the Button into Pocket Queens in the Big Blind!

Example 2:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 0 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t1350)
SB (t2100)
Hero (BB) (t1410)
UTG (t1425)
UTG+1 (t1425)
MP1 (t1415)
MP2 (t890)
MP3 (t4585)
CO (t3220)

Hero's M: 18.80

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, Q
7 folds, SB bets t100, Hero raises to t300, SB raises to t2100 (All-In), Hero calls t1110 (All-In)

Flop: (t2820) 10, 2, K(2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t2820) 7(2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t2820) 3(2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t2820

Results:
SB had J, 10 (one pair, tens)
Hero had A, Q (high card, Ace)
Outcome: SB won t2820

A Blind on Blind battle with what was, with hindsight, a very loose opponent, and they hit on the flop. They had me covered, and that was that.

Example 3:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 0 Tournament, 1500/3000 Blinds 300 Ante (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button (t55470)
SB (t43958)
BB (t54385)
UTG (t23962)
UTG+1 (t34497)
MP1 (t15333)
MP2 (t91344)
Hero (MP3) (t43660)
CO (t74036)

Hero's M: 6.06

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with K, Q
4 folds, Hero bets t6000, CO calls t6000, 1 fold, SB calls t4500, BB calls t3000

Flop: (t26700) A, A, Q(4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, CO bets t6000, 2 folds, Hero calls t6000

Turn: (t38700) 3(2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets t16000, Hero raises to t31360 (All-In), CO calls t15360

River: (t101420) 5(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t101420

Results:
Hero had K, Q (two pair, Aces and Queens)
CO had 10, A (three of a kind, Aces)
Outcome: CO won t101420

This time a cold deck/bad beat situation. Running this hand, and the flop through the Odds Calculator at pokernews.com, it reports the odds of winning as 86% against one opponent with unknown cards.

Example 4:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 1.2 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB (t2280)
BB (t1630)
UTG (t3195)
MP (t1385)
CO (t4420)
Hero (Button) (t590)

Hero's M: 7.87

Preflop: Hero is Button with 7, 9
3 folds, Hero bets t590 (All-In), 1 fold, BB calls t540

Flop: (t1205) 7, K, 6(2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t1205) J(2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t1205) Q(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t1205

Results:
Hero had 7, 9 (one pair, sevens)
BB had 5, Q (one pair, Queens)
Outcome: BB won t1205

The history to this hand is that I got rivered twice in two previous hands which left me short-stacked and this was a Button shove. The point is, although I got it in with the worst hand, I actually hit the flop (Like my opponent in Example 2 did) which left my opponent in this hand drawing to either running cards after the flop or one of the 3 remaining Queens and then only one of the Queens by the turn, making me a 93% favourite to win the hand at that point, but got 3 outed.

And there you have it. These are actually the last 4 tourneys I’ve played online. 4 tourneys, 4 bad beats. That’s why I need a bit of a grumble :-(