Everybody who has played the game of poker remembers their worst bad beat. Holding great cards and still getting beat in one of the most gut wrenching things in the sport. For anyone who thinks that they have had the worst bad beat or think they’ve seen it, every single one of those people probably now agree that Connor Drinan’s bad beat is the worst. On Tuesday night the World Series of Poker held the Big One for One Drop. The Big One for One Drop is the only tournament of its kind where every player buys in for a 1 million dollars and the winner takes home $15,306,688. For so much money you can only imagine how horrible one could feel if they are eliminated but after Connor Drinan’s exit you can say that no one felt more horrible than he did.
pokernews.com
With 18 players left in the tournament, Connor Drinan and Cary Katz both drew pocket aces. With pocket aces naturally both players went all in. Drinan was the only one at risk by doing so. After both players showed their cards it seemed that everyone in the room thought it would draw. Drinan held the ace of diamonds and ace of clubs while Katz held the ace of hearts and the ace of spades. There was a 98 percent chance that the pot would end in a draw and be split and only a 2 percent of a player winning.
After the flop came out 2 of diamonds, king of hearts, and 5 of hearts. Katz had a five percent chance of winning on a flush but Drinan didn’t seemed too worried. At one point of the exchange Katz actually said to Drinan, “Save your money kid. You can’t win every pot.”
And he was right.
After a turn card of a four of hearts each player stood at an 80 percent chance of splitting the pot while Katz had a 20 percent chance of taking the pot if a heart came on the river. And after players all around the table where talking about the odds, the river card was a two of hearts. Lon McEachern, the longtime ESPN poker commentator mentioned that it was “the worst beat in the history of tournament poker.” No one is disagreeing with his statement. When you consider the stakes, the odds, and the way it happened, it will be a long time before we see a bad beat like this again.
