Counterfeited for $136...

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Dear Bad Beat Counselor: Counterfeited for $136k

Well, folks, it's that time again. Time to make ourselves feel better by laughing at the misfortune of others.

To do so, you have two choices: You can navigate over to Youtube and catch a good old-fashioned tubing trampoline accident, or you can stay tuned right here to see Full Tilt Poker pro Cole South get pwned by the river for a $130,000+ pot.

If that doesn't beat a trampoline accident, I don't know what will.

This hand comes to us by way of the PokerListings.com MarketPulse section, where you can always see the biggest pots won in online poker by day, week, month or for the year so far.

The bad beat in question occurs in a hand involving notorious ultra-aggressive Finn Illari "Ziigmund" Sahamies and red-name pro South at a $200/$400 game on Full Tilt Poker.

Action starts out with South raising off the button to $1,200 with Q 8. Ziigmund, always aggressive, three-bets to $3,600 with K Q. South makes the call and they see a flop.

The flop comes down A Q 8 and Ziigmund now checks. South makes a bet of $6,400 with two pair. Ziigmund flat-calls, and the turn drops the 2.

Ziigmund once again checks and South bets $16,200. Ziigmund now comes alive with his second pair and check-raises South all-in. Little does he know he is drawing to six outs. South makes the call with his two pair and will only have to sweat the river for the $135,906 pot.

Ziigmund: Laughing on the inside.

However, poker has another idea. From time to time poker likes to test your patience. Sometimes the poker gods feel that you're making too much money or getting too cocky and decide to bring you back down to earth.

In this case, they decide it's that time for South. Now, obviously, the king would be the suck-out of choice. However, in my experience, getting counterfeited is far more of a piss-off.

So the poker gods decide to drop the A on the river, making Ziigmund the winning AAQQK and giving poor South the losing AAQQ8. That $135k+ pot gets shipped to the wily Finn, leaving South to curse his luck.

All in all, not a horrific beat. I mean Ziigmund did have six outs, which makes him practically a favorite by my math. Nor did South end up with any welts from the trampoline springs, so ... some might say he got off lightly.

Till next time!

More blogs from the Bad Beat Counselor:

• Dear Bad Beat Counselor: Quad Aces Cracked!
• Dear Bad Beat Counselor: Rating Severe
• Dear Bad Beat Counselor: I Loathe Poker