by Dan Michalski, Oct 18, 2008 | 9:06 pm

Warning: What follows is a bad beat story. If you have an aversion to such tales (like I do), please skip this post.

I was playing very well on PokerStars this eve, so I decided to try my new-and-improving tournament game in their “Nightly Seventy Grand” — a $50+5, $70k guaranteed … with about 1,300 players, 198 get paid.

Though I made one mistake that cost me half my stack, and one fold that was correct but woulda worked out in my favor, I was still in good chip position (about 230thish with 735 or so remaining) and my head was in the right place. No tilt factor … knew to be patient and I’d get my hand.

I had already begun thinking about the glorious post I would write upon taking down the $12k first prize — and accepting in my mind that odds were still against my actual winning, so this would more likely be a battle to see just how deep I could get into the real money — but instead I got a reminder of why poker sucks “tournament pro” must be such a terrible way to make a living.

Click below for the complete textual hand history. I can’t stop thinking about it — about an hour and a half later. I’m pretty sure I played the hand itself as right as i could (pushing all-in preflop with Aces), so all I’m left with are regrets over the hand I misplayed an orbit or so earlier. Those extra chips (I was in the top 25 at the time) probably woulda been enough to push RoryClan83 and his 44 out of there, and even if not I’d still have been alive after my Aces got so painfully double-cracked.

Instead, I gave the dumbass my distinguished opponent from Del Boca the ammunition to kill me.

(He would go on to finish in 100th place, paying $105.)

PokerStars Game #21309953753: Tournament #113516614, $50+$5 Hold’em No Limit – Level V (75/150) – 2008/10/18 22:44:44 ET
Table ‘113516614 44’ 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: DcHustlers (3618 in chips)
Seat 2: WALLSTREET1 (10040 in chips)
Seat 3: HamOnRye (3655 in chips)
Seat 4: JustAplayer2 (5990 in chips)
Seat 5: RoryClan83 (8417 in chips)
Seat 6: jackalteo (13340 in chips)
Seat 7: shaundeeb (3165 in chips)
Seat 8: RiverDan72 (5590 in chips)
Seat 9: .dfm.dfm. (1440 in chips)
shaundeeb: posts small blind 75
RiverDan72: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RiverDan72 [Ah Ac]
.dfm.dfm.: raises 1290 to 1440 and is all-in
DcHustlers: folds
WALLSTREET1: folds
HamOnRye: folds
JustAplayer2: folds
RoryClan83: calls 1440
jackalteo: folds
shaundeeb: folds
RiverDan72: raises 4150 to 5590 and is all-in
RoryClan83: calls 4150
*** FLOP *** [8c Th 7c]
*** TURN *** [8c Th 7c] [6s]
*** RIVER *** [8c Th 7c 6s] [5h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RiverDan72: shows [Ah Ac] (a pair of Aces)
RoryClan83: shows [4d 4c] (a straight, Four to Eight)
RoryClan83 collected 8300 from side pot
.dfm.dfm.: shows [9d 9s] (a straight, Six to Ten)
.dfm.dfm. collected 4395 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 12695 Main pot 4395. Side pot 8300. | Rake 0
Board [8c Th 7c 6s 5h]
Seat 1: DcHustlers folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 2: WALLSTREET1 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: HamOnRye folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: JustAplayer2 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: RoryClan83 showed [4d 4c] and won (8300) with a straight, Four to Eight
Seat 6: jackalteo (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: shaundeeb (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: RiverDan72 (big blind) showed [Ah Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 9: .dfm.dfm. showed [9d 9s] and won (4395) with a straight, Six to Ten