I kept playing and loving the game while waiting and waiting for the ultimate poker hand to come my way in a live game. Because I have always been borderline obsessive about statistics and record keeping, I know the exact date: the 2nd of March, 2008 and the suit was clubs. We were playing our regular friendly .25/.5 No Limit Hold’em game. I was sitting in the big blind and everyone except the small blind folded. There was no action until the river when I hit the gutshot Royal Flush bingo card, turning my 10 high into the stone cold nuts. My opponent checked and I bet the minimum 50 cents. His cards were in the muck almost before I got my bet out. I turned over the rarest of poker hands, one that I had waited almost 400 live games to catch, and raked in the absolute minimum profit.
The appearance of a Royal Flush is among the most anti-climatic experiences a poker player can have. Probability dictates that the deck will usually be crushed and the hand will receive little action. Your best hope is that some high hand or bad beat jackpot comes into play. So, as lucky as you have to be to catch a Royal Flush, you have to be even luckier to actually get paid for it.
C’est la vie…deal.
