Remember last year during the World Series of Poker main event when this guy’s reaction made us think he’d lost the saddest poker hand ever? Erase that from your memory.
This hand right here — from the WSOP Big One for One Drop, which aired Tuesday night on ESPN — is without a doubt the worst bad beat in the history of poker.
Let’s start with this crazy fact: These guys paid $1 million(!) to play in a poker tournament, the only tournament of its kind with $15,306,688 to the winner (let that sink in for a moment).
Both Connor Drinan and Cary Katz picked up pocket aces, and after some pre-flop raises and acting that included an ominous message from Katz, they naturally got their money all in, but only Drinan was at risk of being eliminated. But, c’mon, what’s the worst that could happen when they’re an identical 2% to win a pot they split 98% of the time?
#3 $50 Million Cash Seizure One of the Biggest Ever in Columbia. Columbian police seized at least $50 million US in January 2007. It was at the time believed to be the most money that ever was seized by a law enforcement organization in the world. The Columbian raids were done after a tip came in from a source who worked with the DEA.
Only this:
In the world of high-stakes poker, the sums of money being won and lost every day are huge. The top players think nothing of dropping tens of thousands, or even more, in a playing session. It seemed like every time I sat down to play I lost between five and eight hundred dollars. I'd lost $21,000 three months ago, and it seemed like no matter what I did I just couldn't win. So it made sense to jump up in stakes AGAIN. Well, on the first day I moved up I lost $13,000 in a single day. By far the most I've lost in a day, I just felt. The most i ever lost at one time was probly 20$ from a torney. But i have lost about 300$ in one day from playing on tilt #10 February 7th, 2005, 9:12 PM. I have won many tournaments and sit-and-gos, but when it comes to cash games at casinos I usually get pummeled. You just can't sit down at a casino cash poker table if money is at all an issue in your life, because people will just price you out constantly.
Longtime ESPN poker commentator Lon McEachern called Drinan losing to an improbable flush “the worst beat in the history of tournament poker.” How can anybody disagree given the enormous stakes?
Oh, and that ominous message from Katz to Drinan before the flop? “Save your money, kid. You can’t win every pot.”
Drinan was knocked out in 18th place and out of the money.
To watch this horrific beat slowly unfold, just click below: