Royal Flush Poker

This is a hand that took place on the televised game called ‘High Stakes Poker’ and was the largest televised pot ever seen in cash terms. Gus Hansen began the hand being dealt (5d,5c) and Daniel is dealt (6s,6h) which is certainly a good start for Daniel and instantly as the flop hits, things get a lot better, the flop comes down (9c,6d,5h) and despite making a set, Gus checks. Daniel puts in a fairly small raise and Gus reraises, clearly thinking he may be in front. After Daniel calls, Gus certainly knows for sure he’s in front when the miracle card’(5s), hit’s the board, this is a fantastic card for Gus as it turns Daniels set of 6′s into a full house, seeming like a great card to him, at the same time as, ironically, leaving him with only one card left in the deck to save him.

After a strong bet from Gus and a smooth call from a Daniel Negreanu clearly feeling he has the best of it, the river brings an (8s) which gives the added thought in Daniels mind, that if Gus had a straight draw of some kind, he may have just made it on the river which would of course be great news for his full house. Gus, with an unbeatable four fives, sets the trap by ‘checking’ and after thinking for a while, Daniel raises a very considerable $65,000 Gus doesn?t think for long before declaring ‘all in’ and the shock on Daniels face is obvious.

It is easy to to see why Daniel thinks he is in front, up to this point there is no real evidence to make him think he could be behind, and it would take a lot to make him change his feeling that he is in front and make him throw his hand away, such is it’s strength. After some consideration Daniel decides that he simply has to call, and I can’t really blame him for struggling to get away from such a hand, the following look on his face when he sees the four fives says it all. It’s a truly devastating hand for any poker player, the only comfort being that he hasn’t played it badly, it’s just awful luck.

Having said this, there is an argument that can be made here to say that it was possible to make a quite brilliant fold, the reraise from Gus was $167,000 which when you couple this sized reraise on the river with the fact that he trap checked first, shows that he really does probably have a big hand, and the following hole cards would in theory have defeated Daniel – (8,8) (9,9) (5,5), so it was possible to fold the hand even when every card up to that point seemed to be a good one for him, although it’s an extremely difficult fold even for a player of Daniels quality. A brilliant hand for the poker fan to watch at home but a heartbreaking one for Daniel, but that is of course the way that the cards very occasionally, decide to fall.