I suppose if a bluff has a second cousin twice removed, it's probably the bad beat. Both are born out of hope in preference to intention, and while both leave you staring in amazement, it's always for entirely different reasons.

That amazement was the usual working environment of the folk behind PokerStars.tv lately, who've been sifting through their coverage selecting the highest five bad beats.

For us neutrals they make for some great poker television. For those involved - the likes of Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier and Phil Hellmuth, they're more of an excruciating reminder of ways fickle the poker Gods can be.

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Still, their loss - financial and sanity wise - is our gain, as this video, available on PokerStars.tv and our YouTube channel, demonstrates.

You surely have your individual bad beats, after all, after hand rankings they're the very first thing you learn (and feature to listen to), as a brand new player. Still, a minimum of this video shows they are often enjoyable.

Do you compromise with our selections? Or have we missed anything? Tweet your suggestions to us at: @PokerStarsBlog.

Stephen Bartley is a staff writer for the PokerStars Blog. Follow him on Twitter: @StephenBartley.

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