The Worst Poker Bad Beats of All Time
We’ve all been there. You get it in with the best of it; sometimes, the cards just do not fall your way. Or you wake up with a hand you can only dream of, only for it to be pipped by better. The poker gods and fate have conspired against you - by giving you a bad beat.
Bad beats have changed your poker history, but they have also changed the entirety of your poker history. Poker bad beats can do more than just ship a big pot away from you and to your opponent - they can alter a player’s career, poker history, and beyond. Here are our sickest beats of all time!
*WARNING* - NOT FOR THE WEAK STOMACH
Phil Ivey vs. Chris Moneymaker (2003 WSOP Main Event)
The Hand:
- Phil Ivey: 9♥️9♠️
- Chris Moneymaker: A♥️Q♦️
The Board:
- Flop: Q♥️6♠️Q♠️
- Turn: 9♣️
- River: A♠️
What Happened:
After Moneymaker opens his A♥️Q♦️, Ivey flats his pocket 9♥️9♠️ in middle-position. The flop was a relatively wet Q♥️Q♠️6♠️, and a small c-bet from Moneymaker was called by Ivey. The turn was gin for the young Phil Ivey, as the 9♣️ gave him the full house and left Moneymaker with just four outs in the deck. Moneymaker bet bigger on the turn, going two-thirds pot, and Ivey jammed after a small tank for less than a pot-sized bet behind. Moneymaker snap-called, saw the bad news and threw his sunglasses down in frustration. The Cinderella story was not going to be denied, as the A♠️ came on the river and altered poker history forever.
It’s hard to say what would have happened for poker had a young Phil Ivey, fresh from grinding in Atlantic City, catapulted into pole position and captured the Main Event title. He would not be denied, however, as Ivey would become one of the best players the game has ever seen, capturing multiple WSOP bracelets and becoming arguably the most famous player in the game.
In an interview with Barry Greenstein, Ivey talked about his mentality to not let that bad beat deny him. He spoke about how things happen for a reason, and by getting over losses quickly, looking at the big picture, and being grateful, you can not get attached to bad outcomes. It's a piece of stellar wisdom from one of the GOATs of the game.
Matt Affleck vs. Jonathan Duhamel (2010 WSOP Main Event)
The Hand:
- Matt Affleck: A♠️A♣️
- Jonathan Duhamel: J♠️J♣️
The Board:
- Flop: 10♦️9♣️7♥️
- Turn: Q♦️
- River: 8♦️
What Happened:
Jonathan Duhamel, now a controversial name in the poker world, was chip-leading the Main Event with just 15 players remaining. The stakes do not get much bigger in live tournament poker than this, so you can imagine the euphoria when Matt Affleck sees Duhamel raise off his monster stack and peels A♠️A♣️ on the Button. He 3-bet the open, Duhamel calls with J♠️J♣️ and the flop was T♦️9♣️7♥️. Duhamel checked, and Affleck c-bet and faced a call from the Canadian. The pot was a mammoth 18.5 million at this juncture.
The dynamic Q♦️ turn came, and after Duhamel checked, Affleck jammed his remaining 11.6 million. After a tank, Duhamel called with his pair and open-ended straight draw, needing to hit one of his ten outs to eliminate Affleck; the brutal 8♦️ came on the river, ending Affleck’s Main Event dreams and catapulting Duhamel to an eventual WSOP Main Event victory.
This hand is one of the biggest “what if” as Duhamel would go on to capture an extremely lucrative PokerStars sponsorship on top of an almost $9 million payday. Affleck certainly cut himself a stellar career in poker, becoming a well-respected live tournament pro across the United States and a leading poker coach. But there’s no doubt that he will have often thought about how things could have been different if a clean river was delivered.
Josh Arieh vs. Bryce Yockey (2019 WSOP Poker Players’ Championship)
The Hand:
Bryce Yockey: 7♠️6♣️4♦️3♥️2♠️
Josh Arieh: A♣️Q♦️6♥️5♣️3♦️
What Happened:
The $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship is not just the most grand and respected poker tournament in the game; it can still deliver some crippling bad beats in even more brutal ways than just Texas Hold’em.
Case in point was a hand in 2019 between well-known poker pro Josh Arieh and Bryce Yockey. In this hand, Yockey was almost a lock to win this hand with his 7-6 low. Arieh needed the baddest of beats to scoop this pot. The first two draws did not help Arieh at all and left Yockey with a 99.843% chance to win the pot. The poker gods had other ideas, though, and Arieh had to draw a 2 and a 4 in the first two draws to even be live on the final draw, and then he would have to throw away a six and draw to a wheel. The outcome had to happen in this order; otherwise, Arieh had no chance.
Pour a little out for the homie Bryce Yockey. The worst beat I've ever seen 🤢🔫. You'll be back Bryce pic.twitter.com/NOnFdOPH2c
— Nick Schulman (@NickSchulman) June 29, 2019
Arieh hit his 7 on his final draw, beating Yockey’s second-nuts and completing one of the sickest beats in history. As Nick Schulman stated in his PokerGO commentary, this would be a “beat to end beats”, and it certainly ranks up there in our list.
Mariano vs. Andy (Hustler Casino LIVE High Stakes Cash Game)
The Hand:
- Mariano: K♦️T♦️
- Andy: A♦️4♦
The Board:
- Flop: Q♦️J♦️9♦️
- Turn: 3♥️
- River: 6♦️
What Happened:
After Mariano opened to $500 with K♦️T♦️, Charles 3-bet to $2,000, and Andy Stacks cold-called from the Big-Blind with A♦️4♦️. Mariano would 4-bet his hand to $9,000, and both Charles and Andy called. The flop was a dynamic and wet Q♦️J♦️9♦️, giving Mariano a straight flush and Andy the nut flush. The flop surprisingly checked through, and the weak 3♥️ turn led to Mariano betting $8,000.
Andy found the turn raise to $35,000, and Mariano, of-course, just calls with the super-nuts. The river 6♦️ rolled off, and Andy overbet $137,000 with Mariano having just over pot behind. Against a huge bet, Mariano jammed pretty quickly, and Andy did not take too much time to call. This is a mega-cooler, but if any player is good enough to find a fold here, it’s Los Angeles cash game legend Andy Stacks.
If Andy took his time, he would almost certainly find a fold. What kind of bluffs is Mariano finding here? What is he jamming worse for value? Once Andy asked those questions, you must imagine that he would find a fold. Instead, Andy lost a $600,000+ pot to Mariano, and Mariano's mega heater on HCL was fully underway.
Jean-Robert Bellande vs. Sarkis Akopyan (2008 WSOP Main Event)
The Hand:
- Jean-Robert Bellande: A♠️Q♥️
- Sarkis Akopyan: 10♣️9♠️
The Board:
- Flop: A♣️2♦️8♥️
- Turn: 6♠️
- River: 7♠️
What Happened:
After running deep in the Main Event, Akopyan used his healthy chip stack to loosely open T♣️9♠️ in an early position. Jean-Robert “JRB” Bellande found A♠️Q♥️ and went for the jam, and Akopyan found the call against the short-stacked jam.
The flop came down A♣️2♦️8♥️ giving Bellande a 94% of a double-up. On the 6♠️ turn, JRB began professing his love to the dealer as if he had locked the hand up and was swiftly reminded by other players that he had yet to win the hand outright. Akopyan picked up a gut-shot straight draw and even said “bye-bye” with a grin to JRB. It must have been a shot to the gut when the 7♠️ rolled off on the river, and JRB exited the event in 442nd for $27,020.
Despite the bad beat being very entertaining and fun, it has arguably been a good thing for JRB. Instead of becoming some kind of live tournament grinder, he used his affable personality to become a private cash game legend in the United States and Asia. He has been a frequent player on Triton Poker’s cash game streams and played on Hustler Casino LIVE’s biggest cash game stream ever.
Olivier Busquet vs. Sven Reichardt (2014 EPT Barcelona €50,000 Super High Roller)
The Hand:
- Olivier Busquet: A♠️2♠️
- Sven Reichardt: K♦️K♠️
The Board:
- Flop: 8♥️ 8♣️ K♣️
- Turn: A♥️
- River: A♣️
What Happened:
In the €50,000 Super High Roller at the 2014 EPT Barcelona, Sven Reichardt min-raised to 160,000 with K♦️K♠️. Olivier Busquet, who had less than 20 big blinds, looked down at A♠️2♠️ and moved all-in for 1,545,000. Reichardt instantly called, putting Busquet in a dire situation. The flop came 8♥️ 8♣️ K♣️ giving Reichardt a full house and leaving Busquet with less than 1% equity in the hand. Busquet needed runner-runner aces to win. Miraculously, the turn was an A♥️and the river an A♣️, giving Busquet a better full house and the most unlikely win imaginable.
Busquet was essentially drawing dead after the flop, needing a miracle to win. And a miracle is precisely what he got. Still, his incredible luck didn't stop there; Busquet's went on to win the tournament, taking home €896,434 after a heads-up deal with Daniel Colman.
