Steven Holloway on poker: The unluckiest man in the world

Anyone that has played enough poker knows that getting unlucky - taking a bad beat - will happen. Photo / Thinkstock

Opinion

In my former life as a 'professional grinder', I would generally receive two distinct responses from people discovering I played poker for a living.

One was from people who didn't really understand the game and had no idea how I could make money from it. Their response would be quizzical, skeptical and often unkind.

The other was from (mostly) blokes who loved a bit of poker themselves, loved that I did it for a job, and wanted to tell me their most recent bad beat story about 'how bad they run'.

When gripped in the midst of an intense storyteller detailing how his flopped straight lost to runner-runner flush to bust him out of a $5 sit-n-go, I would often think how much I would prefer talking with cynical Aunt Karen about how the poker robots will one day take all of my money.

Anyone that has played enough poker knows that getting unlucky - taking a bad beat - will happen. It will happen over and over and over, and eventually - if you are a good player - you will become immune, and learn to not let it affect you.

But for many, a rough turn of a card is devastating. 'The story of my life', or 'Jokerstars is rigged against me', are common phrases of despair and seen as ammo for a killer party anecdote. It is linked into the poker ego - where players need it known that their failure came down to bad luck, not bad skill.

Selective memory can also be a key contributor. I have a friend who would consistently complain about how bad he ran and how unlucky he was getting. After one particularly ghastly whinging session I decided to sit down and look at the hand history of the tournament he busted deep in.

He busted the tournament losing with AA to KK all in pre-flop with 15 people left in a major high-stakes online tournament. That was all he remembered or wanted to talk about. But upon viewing the hand history I noted how many times earlier, he had gotten his money in with the worst hand and won. He grudgingly accepted that he wasn't the unluckiest man in the world.

A key motivator for many to sit through a conversation, story, or blog post about bad beats is to patiently wait for their chance to get their own tale of woe off their chest.

So I would like to unite the NZ Herald readers in a one-time-only opportunity to tell New Zealand your worst beat story. Get it out there so we can all move on together, and we will listen this one time. Well at least I will.

Here's mine:

2010 Full Tilt 30r $20k guarantee tournament

There were 16 players left in this $30 rebuy tournament on Full Tilt poker at the 1k/2k blind level. First prize was 12k. I had been playing very aggressively and continuation betting pretty much everything.

I had 75k chips at the 1k/2k level and the villain in this hand had me covered.

I opened the betting with TT (one heart) in second position to 4500. The button called and so did the small blind.

The flop came down T52 with two hearts.

I C-bet - as usual - to 9k and the caller shoved for over 65k. I obviously called.

He showed 99 with no heart.

As you know, the turn and river came down 9, then 9.

The chances of that happening are about 1/1000.

Tell me yours....