[scrawnybob]

hi

yes I suposed statistically its a bad beat but when a hand gets played out like this then alot is down to the amounts bet and the size of stacks

its one thing to loose when you 80% favourite when your both allin preflop or on the flop

but from a playing and winning POV altogether different when the hand has been played out with some betting along the way

you must always look at hands from the other players point of view - this explains 90% of bad beats IMHO

how much did you bet on each betting round ?

if for example your bet with top pair (only 10 BTW) and top kicker wasnt that big - then I'm not suprised the player called with a nut flush draw - from his POV if you didnt bet at least 1.5 times the total pot your not showing strength therefore he will not put you on trip 10's and not be scared by your bet

top pair on this board even with ace kicker is NOT a very strong hand especially with a flush draw out there - I would want close this hand now and take the pot - not go to more cards

or not bet so much (as sounds like you did) and be very prepared to get beaten (and therefore fold when it looks like you have)

when the turn comes ace - you have top 2 pair but you check - this is to "trap" but it is inevitable that he would call (his hand has improved) and without knowing the difference between what was already in the pot and the amount of the all-in there is no way of saying if this was a good or bad move by the other player

but by checking - its inevitable that he would bet big to take the pot - again you showed weakness and he is going to read you as being on the busted flush draw

more importantly he has the ace for the flush so he would IMHO not put you on an ace as he has it - this again makes him confident to bet where you have not - even if you were trying to induce a bet it's worth remembering what impression you have created to get that bet - ie. weakness - that will stick in the opponents mind and influence their decisions throughout the hand

It's really important for players to not only play their own cards but also be constantly imagine playing the opponents cards also - this will with practise cut out an awful lot of Bad Beats that are partly self inflicted

hope thats a help

cheers scrawnybob