Player endures an epic bad beat
Bad beats. They happen in poker all the time. If you play often enough, no doubt you’ve experienced bad beats and put some on other players yourself.
As you probably know, there are two different types of bad beats. The first are those you see frequently, such as getting it in with a big pocket pair only to watch a smaller pocket pair flop a set. Those beats hurt, but they aren’t all that uncommon.
On the flip side, there are bad beats that are so rare, so gut-wrenching, that sometimes poker rooms try to alleviate the pain by awarding thousands of dollars via a bad beat jackpot. We’re talking about hands involving quads, straight flushes and, of course, the granddaddy of all hands, the royal flush.
One such hand took place in the $235 Black Chip Bounty tournament at Run It Up Reno VIII, an event held in April at the Peppermill Resort and Casino in Reno. The tournament featured a $100 bounty on each player.
Andrew Neeme, a popular American vlogger, was playing at the live-streamed feature table when his opponent, John Snyder, raised holding 5c 5h.
Neeme, sitting on a stack of 34,600, looked down at 9c 9s and just called. Jan Shaw then three-bet all in for 6,200 holding Ac Qc in the small blind. Snyder, who had 26,700 in his stack, called. Neeme did the same.
“I think once the original raiser (flat calls), it’s pretty rare he’s going to have that big of a hand or trap,” Neeme said of the hand. “I think I should just isolate. Nines are a little bit vulnerable, obviously, to a lot of overcards. I think jamming makes a lot of sense, but as a cash game player not knowing what the hell to do in so many tournament spots, I just call.”
The 9h 5s 9d was gin for Neeme, who flopped quads. Snyder, who flopped a full house, checked over to Neeme, who slow-played by checking behind. The 5d turn improved Snyder to a losing quad fives, and it was only a matter of time before the chips went in.
“When he turned it over, I immediately said, ‘Oh my god,’” Neeme explained. “It’s always a shock to see such a strong hand like that. I’ve never had, like, quads versus a straight flush or anything like that.”
Being the beneficiary of quads over quads is so rare that most players haven’t experienced it. For Neeme, it was actually his second time. The other instance came in a $3-$6 limit hold ’em cash game a few years ago. While many poker rooms offer bad beat jackpots for cash games, this one did not, meaning Neeme missed out on a big payday and had to settle for whatever was in that pot.
Likewise, in the Run It Up Reno tournament, there was no bad beat jackpot remedy to ease the pain for a shell-shocked Synder. Instead, all he was left with was a story about a hand he’ll never forget.