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In the 2008 WSOP, played as No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, Scott Montgomery placed fifth. Looking at how hand scoring works, I do not understand the manner in which he was eliminated.

Here is a screenshot from the video of the critical moments of Peter Eastgate' path to winning, at 14:18, the moment the six of diamonds was drawn.

enter image description here

According to PokerStar's narration, this was the only possible card that could secure Eastgate a win, and it was drawn against all odds--interesting stuff. However, I do not understand why this made Eastgate win or why it was his only chance.

From what I can tell, 'No Limit' just means there are no restrictions on betting. Otherwise, it is standard Texas Hold 'Em in which aces score the highest.

In this case, the best hand for Montgomery was a three kind of kind aces against Eastgate's three of a kind of sixes. As a tie for the same kind of hand, aces score higher.

What am I missing here in the rules of Texas Hold 'Em?

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  • "against Eastgate's three of a kind of sixes." - what is your reasoning here? Which cards do you think count for Eastgate's hand? Jul 26 at 4:30

1 Answer 1

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You have incorrectly identified Eastgate's hand.

Montgomery's hand is AAAQ6 (Three of a Kind, Aces).

Eastgate's hand is 666AA (Full House, Sixes Full of Aces).

On the turn, the two remaining sixes are the only cards that improve Eastgate's hand that do not also improve Montgomery's hand (an Ace would give Eastgate a full house as well, but Montgomery would also improve to Four of a Kind).

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    That is correct for the casrds visible but there still seems to be something missing here. The 6 of clubs would also give Eastgate a full house beating the three Aces. However 2 out of 44 cards would come to about 5%, whereas the odds show only 2%, which corresponds to one card and also matches the description 'the only card giving a win'. So apparently the 6 of clubs was already out, maybe some other player open folded with it.
    – quarague
    Jul 24 at 9:27
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    @quarague Correct. The six of clubs was folded at 12:28 in the linked video. Jul 24 at 9:34

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