Two hands we recently observed ended in spectacular fashion, and in both cases the best hand ended up being beaten.

First, three players found themselves all-in before the flop, with , and eventually laid bare on the table.

A flop of put the pocket fives out in front with a set, but when the turn came the man holding snowmen vaulted into the lead with a straight. The on the river gave the third player top set, which was enough to scoop a side pot and help him survive, but it the eights claimed the main pot.

When asked for his name, the player responded only with "Joe," and when prompted for a surname, he simply shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

"I'd rather not reveal that information," he said cryptically, attempting to conceal his identity from prying eyes. No matter, everyone is entitled to their privacy, and we moved on without a second thought.

On our way back to the PokerNews live reporting station, we overheard the commotion common to a bad beat in progress, and a bit of investigation revealed that one of the badder beats in poker had just gone down.

After a raising war before the flop, one player snap-called an all-in bet with and watched his opponent roll over a dominated . When the flop brought the case ace on board, the hand appeared to over in an instant, but the presence of a provided the smallest window of hope in the form of a runner-runner straight draw.

Sure enough, a and a completed the board and big slick suddenly materialized into a Broadway straight.

We asked the victor for his name, but once again a player who came from far behind to win the pot refused to give his name.