Friday, 29th March 2024 04:59
Home / Features / Ridiculous bad beat in Prague: Like adding Mentos to Diet Coke

If M. Night Shyamalan (the brain behind films including The Sixth Sense and The Village) directed poker hands instead of movies, they might look something like this.

In other words, there would be an unbelievable twist ending that nobody–at least not the players themselves–saw coming.

The hand in question took place yesterday evening, during Level 7 (300/600/600) of Day 1B of the €5,300 EPT Prague Main Event.

Strap in.

PRE-FLOP / THE SETUP

There was nothing remarkable about this hand in the beginning.

Lukasz Grossmann, a Polish player with $85K in live earnings under his belt, opened things up from middle position.

Frenchman Florian Ribouchon, who boasts $384K in cashes including an EPT Deauville Main Event final table back in 2014, made the call from the small blind.

Antoine Vranken of the Netherlands also called from the big blind. His list of cashes dates back to 2010, and he’s amassed $423K in winnings in the years since.

Standard stuff.

THE FLOP / THE REVEAL

An action flop..for two of the three players, anyway

Holding the 77, Ribouchon must have felt ecstatic when the dealer spread the 667 flop. He’d flopped a full house and had the virtual nuts, with only one precise hand–66–beating his.

Making quads is hard though, right? That’s why many casinos offer special prizes in their games to players who find four of a kind. The chances of anyone holding the one combo of pocket sixes were slim to none.

Florian Ribouchon

It was actually impossible if you knew that Vranken held 64 for flopped trips. While his kicker wasn’t the greatest, you wouldn’t blame Vranken for thinking his three sixes were best.

Grossmann, the third player in this hand, was not as enthused as his two opponents. He held 55 and saw two overcards to his pair.

Ribouchon was trapping. So was Vranken. And Grossmann was happy to take a free one.

All three checked it to the turn.

THE TURN

A turn for the worse?

The 5 turn was the gin card for Ribouchon. Grossmann had now made his own full house–fives full of sixes–but Ribouchon’s sevens full still had that beat. Vranken’s hand didn’t change, he still held three sixes, but the five did complete some straight draws.

Ribouchon continued his trap. Vranken was happy to see a free river. And Grossmann? The trapped became the trapper (or so he thought).

All three checked it to the river.

THE RIVER / THE TWIST

Uh oh.

Laying the 5 on the river was like adding Mentos to a bottle of Diet Coke.

Chaos ensued.

Grossmann had back-doored his way into quads.

Lukasz Grossmann

Ribouchon still had sevens full but must have felt his hand had improved as now he could get paid from a six or a five.

Vranken’s trips had improved to a boat (sixes full of fives), and he surely felt he had a lock on the hand.

Not this time.

Ribouchon decided enough was enough and he had to get some value with his flopped full house. He led for 4,500. Vranken then bumped it up to 10,000, only for Grossmann to jam all in for 28,400.

Music to Ribouchon’s ears, he shoved over the top (covering both players), and Vranken called off his last 25,400.

The hands were flipped, and both Ribouchon and Vranken saw the bad news. Grossmann trebled up, Vranken was eliminated, while Ribouchon’s stack was cut in half. Alas, none of the three would make it to Day 2.

Still, they’ll leave EPT Prague with a poker story none of them will forget.

This hand was reported on Day 1B by Poker News.


TIMELINE | RESULTS | LIVE STREAM | SCHEDULE | NEED TO KNOW


 

Study Poker with Pokerstars Learn, practice with the PokerStars app