Bad Beats and Lucky Draws: Poker Strategies, Winning Hands, and Stories from the Professional Poker Tour – A Nine-Time WSOP Champion's Entertaining Guide to Tournament Bluffs and Reads

by Phil Hellmuth

Bad Beats and Lucky Draws is your down-and-dirty guide to the world of high-stakes professional poker. Phil Hellmuth, nine-time World Series of Poker Champion and author of Play Poker Like the Pros, presents a blow-by-blow account of many of poker's "clash of the titans" hands from the World Series of Poker, the World Poker Tour, and the European Tour. Phil provides insights into what the players were thinking and includes his own take on what they (and in many cases what he) should have done differently. Highly entertaining and instructive, Bad Beats and Lucky Draws gives you a seat at the table with the best bluffs, reads, and over-the-top plays such as the hand that won Phil his record-tying ninth bracelet at the 2003 World Series to the heartbreaking play that knocked him out of the "Big One." Bad Beats and Lucky Draws also includes special contributions by

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Games

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2004

Reviews

[Jon]

Well, I couldn't find the book by Doyle Brunson that I was looking for on the shelf at the library, so I settled for this book by Helmuth, instead. This book provides an interesting look at some of the history and personalities of professional poker. Phil describes a lot of the venues where the game has been played, and seems to have nothing but good things to say about many of the other pros in the game.
I like to play online poker, though not for real money, and it's often frustrating to me how often I catch a "bad beat", get "rivered", or just can't seem to catch a decent flop with a strong set of hole cards. Reading this book at least let me know that it happens to everyone, even the skilled professional players. Despite the fact that the odds may be against a particular run of cards, it can and still does happen.
There's a lot of commentary by Phil on game situations he's encountered, and more from other players, as well. The bottom line seems to be, in the words of Kenny Rogers, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em." I don't know if it will help me be more philosophical about my bad beats, but it's somewhat comforting to know that even World Poker champs lose to lucky draws.

[Ciarán Campbell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just finished it yesterday....absolutely sucked. Each story always came back to Phil whether he was even in the game or not. Of course the ego maniac mentioned his 89 main event at every opportunity. Avoid this if you're looking for a how to guide... hard to beat Doyle Brunson's super system bible for that one. If you're looking for a great poker story-teller, try Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow's Check raising the devil.....great great read. As for Hellmuth's bad beats....just fold your hand now.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first book ever that I intended to read, and could not finish more than a few pages. I'm glad the purchase was for charity.

Hellmuth is obnoxious,and a bad storyteller. This was painful.

[Killercalico]

Christmas gift from Michael should be a fun read

[Egospartan · Rating 1 out of 5]

While Phil is a great poker player his books are horrible and this one lives up to his rep. Sorry Phil go back poker.

[Scott Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

cash grab waste of time