Why the Poker World Would End Without Bad Beats

We've all been there and done that, yet the bad beats of others never seem to lose their hold over us. What is so fascinating about them? 

1. They are reassuring: 'it happens to the best of us"

2. They reinforce the all-mighty mantra of poker: variance!

3. They help us learn table manners from good and bad examples of bad beat reactions

4. They keep the industry alive: behind every bad beat there is a lucky fish that will keep depositing and feeding the sharks :)

So maybe we can't live with them, but the industry can't live without them - bad beats are that unpredictable, exciting (and at times so frustrating!) luck element that keeps both poker addicts and occasional recreational players in the game. But they are also the key to the hearts of TV producers and mainstream media. Without bad beats, the poker world could never be as we know it and we'd be all be playing bingo or chess, depending on whether we get our kick out of luck or skill :) 

Cruel as it may be, sometimes one feels the bad beat is well-deserved...

Can you even imagine busting out of a tournament with quad Aces?...

When bad beats are made even worse by the highest stakes in live tournament poker: @Connor Drinan out with AA vs AA in The Big One for One Drop 2014:

Watch Ladouceur's face when the flop brings the horrible premonition of a bad beat on the verge of the biggest final table in poker - @Marc-Andre Ladouceur goes out in 13th place in WSOP 2012 Main Event to the visible dismay (and sincere sympathy) of @Andras Koroknai :

#PokerHand #badbeat