{"id":8653,"date":"2021-03-22T16:18:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T16:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.coinpoker.com\/?p=8653"},"modified":"2021-03-22T16:18:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T16:18:00","slug":"the-worst-bad-beat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/the-worst-bad-beat\/","title":{"rendered":"Once Upon A Time: The Worst Bad Beat Of My Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Isabelle Mercier returns for another edition of Once Upon A Time, where she tells you the best stories of her poker career. Last time she recalled the time when she won a tournament that lasted 16 hours<\/a>. However, there are also bad moments in Poker and on this occasion we get back to one of those times…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you, Phil Ivey,\u00a0Fedor\u00a0Holz, and any of your poker friends have in common?\u00a0A\u00a0bad beat\u00a0story! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s part of the game, there’s no escaping it, we can go all-in with a pair of aces, we can very well get cracked by an insignificant 7 and 2 offsuit that will flop perfectly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, that can drive you crazy. It tilts. Yes, there are computer mouses that blew themselves up against the walls because of it and yes, we all think the same: “Why is this happening to me? Why now? Why\u2026 so close to the FT\u2026 when I have been fighting for more than six hours\u2026?\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All players have to deal with this funny parameter, which means that, although we are favorites at the start of a hand, we lose some of these big pots! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Special Kind Of Bad Beat<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Still, there are some bad beats that stand out more than others. The one I want to tell you about happened 15 years ago and I can assure you that it continues to haunt me and will, I think, until my last breath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The context: we are in 2004. I have a few tournaments under my belt, but this is the very beginning of my career as a professional player, moreover, my name is not yet \u201cNo Mercy\u201d, I am just Isabelle Mercier, a little Quebecer from Victoriaville who has dreams in her head, but a bankroll below the $ 10,000 mark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m at Binion\u2019s Horseshoe, THE mystical casino where the WSOP (World Poker Championships) had been held for decades. In 1970, during the first edition, they actually voted for the winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It must also be said that we were far from the fields of several thousand players since there were only seven players that year! In fact, until 2003, we will not cross the 900 registered mark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not until the victory of a certain Chris Moneymaker (literally “money maker” – that cannot be invented) that we reached 2,576 players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I too dream big and I wanted to be part of these two thousand and a few players who will fight for the bracelet. But the reality is, I don’t have 10K to put into my buy-in for the Main Event ticket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frankly, I don’t even have enough money to buy a ticket for a $ 1,000 satellite anymore. Dark times on the card side, my cash game grind has been catastrophic in recent weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, my friend Bruno Fitoussi agreed to sponsor me in the last chance satellite. It’s the day before the tournament,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0midnight, there are 10 of us at the table, and only one of us will leave with the precious sesame that will allow him\u00a0or her\u00a0to play\u00a0in\u00a0the Main Event the next day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling the pressure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What if it’s me? Well, the title of this column leaves no room for suspense, so let’s focus on the bad beat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, everything is going perfectly. I am, as they say, in my \u201czone\u201d and I am doing the right moves, the\u00a0perfect\u00a0risk-taking at the right time, the bluffs that make sense, in short, I can feel this ticket well! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four hours later it’s heads-up. I’m \u201cone-man\u201d away from the Main Event. For him, the goal is not the ticket, he has already bought it! What he wants is the 10K from this satellite. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the goal is not monetary. I’m a pro player, I’m in Vegas, a few hours away from the WSOP, I NEED this ticket, no choice. It\u2019s not this American in front of me who\u2019s going to stand in my way.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fight, always in my zone, in full confidence. On the opposite end, the guy plays super tight. In the meantime, a crowd gathered around the table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People must have been drawn to this strange painting: a Texan cowboy with an open shirt that let out a bushy black lawn in front of a blond in quilts who looked like 14 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\u00a0here it\u00a0comes;\u00a0I am\u00a0dealt\u00a0a pair of 4. I bet and Lucky Luke calls in BB. Magic moment, we flop\u00a0King, 6, 4, the dream card that stirs stars in the eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once in eight, we hit this set which hurts so badly, especially if the opponent has hit a top pair. I bet,\u00a0hoping that is the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot twist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bingo, he raises me. It’s Christmas in the middle of May! We go all-in, I can already see myself at the Main Event. Well seen, he has\u00a0AK! No flush draw possible, he doesn’t even have a 2% chance of making it. That’s it, the ticket is mine! Bruno will be\u00a0happy;\u00a0he has 75% of my share.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Gods of Poker are playful and love to play on the nerves of favorite players. The turn is another 6. Atrocious. No, that’s not possible. I am still widely favorite with my full house, I remain positive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It doesn’t go anyway\u2026 not that close, not like that\u2026 the river is another 6, it’s my chopper, my death sentence in this satellite. The devil’s number 666. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take this bad beat like a punch in the stomach. I’m stunned. KO. I had barely a few more chips than my opponent, which he managed to win immediately after.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lesson learned<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I left\u00a0the table devastated, I collapsed\u00a0a little further, in tears. It will not take me an hour, but several days to resurface and find the desire to talk poker again, to consider a continuation of my\u00a0new\u00a0career\u2026\u00a0The time has passed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned to deal with bad beats, to put them into perspective. But one thing has changed: I never play a pair of fours again without having a thought for this satellite that will forever leave me with a taste of bitterness in my mouth and a very legitimate animosity for hairy cowboys.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep your eyes open on the\u00a0Bad Beat Jackpot\u00a0that you could win on\u00a0CoinPoker!<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet me at the tables on CoinPoker to practice your skills and enjoy the action. Open yourself a\u202f<\/em>CoinPoker account<\/a>\u202ftoday. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isabelle \u201cNo Mercy\u201d Mercier<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WPT Winner & <\/strong>OFC \u201cProgressive\u201d World Champion<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Isabelle Mercier returns for another edition of Once Upon A Time, where she tells you the best stories of her poker career. Last time she recalled the time when she won a tournament that lasted 16 hours. However, there are also bad moments in Poker and on this occasion we get back to one of … Once Upon A Time: The Worst Bad Beat Of My Life<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8653"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}