Bad Beat

In poker, a ‘bad beat’ happens when a player with a good hand loses to someone with a weaker hand who gets lucky with the cards they need to win.

It typically involves a significant underdog hand catching a lucky card or sequence of cards to overcome a strong favorite.

Example in Texas Hold’em:

• Player 1 is dealt Ah Ac, and Player 2 is dealt pocket 5h 5c
• The flop comes Ad 5d 2h, and both players go All-In
• The turn is Th, and the river is 5s
• Player 2 wins with quads
• Player 2’s probability to win the hand was approximately 5% on the flop