An Unbelievable Winning Hold'em Hand

You just never know!

by Matt Lessinger | Published: Sep 20, 2005

There must be something in the air. A couple of months back, I was involved in the strangest stud hand I've ever played, and I discussed it in one of my columns ("A Bizarre Stud Hand" – Vol. 18/No. 14). Then, only weeks later, I witnessed the most insane outcome to a hold'em hand that I've ever seen. Again, given that my poker career has spanned 10 years, that is truly saying a lot! Let's take a look at the hand.

The Scenario
It was a 10-handed $15-$30 hold'em game. I was in the small blind in seat No. 8 with the Q J. The first three players folded preflop, then seats No. 3 through 6 all limped in. The button in seat No. 7 raised, I called, the big blind called, and everyone called around to seat No. 6, who decided to three-bet from the cutoff seat. We all called around to seat No. 3, who capped it. So, when the dust cleared, three different people had put in preflop raises, and we had seven players in for $60 each, several of whom had called only one raise at a time and had no idea the action would be capped (myself included). Truthfully, I had very little idea what anyone had.

The flop came 6 6 3. We checked to seat No. 3, who kept the lead with a bet. Bill, a recreational player in seat No. 4, immediately raised. Ted, a regular in our $15-$30 game who was sitting on a short stack, reraised from seat No. 5. Seat No. 6 called, the rest of us folded around to seat No. 3, and he and Bill both called.

Fourhanded, the turn was the 8. Seat No. 3 checked. Bill bet and Ted called, leaving himself with only a single $5 chip. Seat No. 6 looked agonized, but then released his hand. Seat No. 3 did almost exactly the same thing. He looked at the board, his opponents, and his cards, and finally mucked. So, now it was heads up between Bill and Ted, two of the players who had not raised preflop.

The River
The river card was the 10, for a final board of 6 6 3 8 10. Bill started to bet, then paused, saw that Ted had only one chip left, sighed, and checked. Ted checked behind him, so now it was simply a showdown.

"I missed," said Bill.

"OK," said Ted, noncommittally.

"I missed everything."

"OK – so muck it."

Bill looked at his cards and almost turned them over, and then looked at the board, shook his head, and said, "I can't win, I can't win." He then started to put his cards out toward the dealer. Ted casually waved his right hand toward the muck, silently trying to persuade Bill to finish throwing away his hand. It worked. Bill's cards hit the muck, and the dealer pushed the $600 pot to Ted.

What did he have?

At that point, Ted looked over at me and said, "I have to show you this. You won't believe it." He turned up his cards to reveal the 4 2 – 4 high! He flopped a gutshot straight-flush draw, missed everything, had the lowest possible hand, and still won at showdown! Not only that, but the pot was one of the biggest of the day! Ted was right – I couldn't believe it.

To his credit, Bill did not get upset by what happened. In fact, the only grumbling came from other people at the table, all of whom had thrown away potential winning hands. Of course, everyone clamored to know what Bill had thrown away, and he said that he also had 4-2. From his comment that he missed everything, my guess would be that he had the 4 2. Either way, his failure to show his hand cost him half the pot, or $300.

Besides the fact that 4 high won in a showdown, I also found it amusing that a $5 bet on the river by either player might have won the pot uncontested. I say "might" because there's always the chance that either player would have called just to save face. Of course, it's understandable that neither one thought he could get the other player out with a $5 bet. With 120-to-1 pot odds, nobody is folding anything but the absolute weakest of hands. It just so happens that in this particular case, that is exactly what they both had.

Are there lessons to be learned?
Clearly, there is plenty that could be said about this hand. For starters, how did two players voluntarily end up in a capped pot with 4-2? And, what was Bill doing when he raised with a gutshot-straight draw on the flop? I won't even bother to get into the strategic aspects of the hand, because out of the seven players in the pot, I don't know that a single one of us played the hand correctly.

Instead, I'll just reiterate that Bill's failure to show his hand cost him $300, or 10 big bets. As far as mistakes go, I cannot think of a more senseless and costly one than not showing the winning hand when given a free showdown. However, it would be hypocritical of me to be too harsh toward Bill, because the honest truth is that if I held 4-2 in that situation – the lowest possible hand – I might have thrown it away, too.

But now I can honestly say that I will never allow myself to do that. Now that I've seen 4 high win at showdown, I know that anything is possible. Now that I've told you this story, I hope you'll never make the mistake that Bill made. Don't ever be ashamed to show down a weak hand, because you never know when it might be a winner.