Bad Beat
word type: noun
- To be ahead statistically in a hand, but ultimately losing.
- A poker hand in which an extremely strong hand loses to an even better hand.
Popular Uses
Bad beats only happen to good players. -Joe Crow
It's not whether you won or lost, but how many bad beat stories you were able to tell. -Grantland Rice
If you always start with the worst hand, you never have a bad beat story to tell. -Chuck Thompson
2008 World Series of Poker
You just rivered quad Aces in the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event! Congratulations! Now leave.
You Should Also Know...
Many players don't consider a hand a bad beat unless the majority of the chips were put in the pot while the victim of the bad beat was ahead. Additionally, how much of a favorite a player needs to be before the chips get in the pot is constantly up for the debate. For some players, all it takes is to be the statistical favorite. For others (and for us), the probability of winning must be high enough for the loss to be particularly shocking.