What is a "Bad Beat"

[Willy]

I have only been playing Texas Holdem since January and I am still in the begining stages of learning the game. I keep seeing thr phrase "bad beat" tossed arround in various situations where it does not make sense to me.For example under an other topic there was a discussion of one player having 66 and another 77 with x6x on the flop. It was described as a 'bad beat." Since a poker hand is 5, not 2 cards it would seem neither player had a hand until after the flop. The one had a pair and the other a set. The set won.How can that be a "bad beat"? If the 6 came on the turn or the river it would make sense to me. But, as it was used in this situation it would not appear to be a "bad beat"

[sthief09]

I think a bad beat is someone beating someone despite being a pretty big longshot. I'd say something like 8-1 or worse. K2 taking out KK is a really bad beat. KK beating AA is somewhat of a bad beat, but not so much because the player with KK couldn't have known the other guy had AA. Flopping a set and losing to runner runner quads is a bad beat. Flopping a flush and losing to a runner runner full house is a bad beat. In general, people use the term too loosely, and it's extremely annoying.

In casinos, they have a bad beat jackpot, which rewards a player (and the rest of his table) for losing with a big hand, like Aces full of kings.

[playerfl]

when talking bad beat jackpots, usually there is a minimum for what the losing hand is. Often you must have quads or better and still lose the hand.

[pzhon]

When I call something a bad beat, I mean that the bulk of the money went in when one hand was ahead, then the other hand won. For example, if 63 and AA move in preflop, and 63 wins, that is a bad beat. If 63 and AA limp in, and move in on a K63 flop, and 63 wins, that's not a bad beat, even if the player with AA played reasonably.

[BusterStacks]

There's no such thing.

[newcool]

Here is a bad beat that happend to me in a home game:

I have A, 10 suited in spades.

Flop comes A,4,10 with 2 hearts

I go all in and get one caller. He flips over 4,6 offsuit with one heart.

Turn and river are hearts.

That's a bad beat

[cardcounter0]

A "bad beat" is what occurs when you lose. It is the opposite of "tricky aggresive play", which is what occurs when you win.

[benfranklin]

A "beat" is when a starting hand that has a high probability of winning is beaten by a much weaker starting hand. A "bad beat" is when it happens to you.

[stinkypete]

in limit, i consider a bad beat one where a drawing hand outdraws a better hand when the drawing hand doesn't have the pot odds to call the better hand's bets.

rivered flushes and outside straights are rarely bad beats, though a lot of people will whine about them.

[dirty moose]

a bad beat is getting your 4 of a kind beat by a stright flush