Blackjack table: my friend - Splits 4 Aces. Hits 4 10's in a row. Dealer draws to 21. Push. He says it hurt worse than losing.

A royal straight flush (aka royal flush) cannot lose or tie to any other hand in Hold 'Em. It can't lose or tie in the main pot. It can't lose or tie in any side pot. It can't lose or tie in any situation, period.

It could be that someone folded before the turn or river (and no royal on the flop), but that's not losing with a royal flush. There, one would be folding before one knew that a royal was en route. That is quite plausible, as you could have only a royal draw, and someone is making a very large bet after the flop and/or turn. Folding could well be the right move, if the only outs after the turn are the nine flush cards (one of which would make a royal).

Sorry, it just happens to be one of my favourite stories/puzzles about holdem and i wouldnt want to let anyone off easy!

There were 5 of them in the pot no preflop raises, he was in late position and the board was J Q 10 K A all the same suite (cant remember which suite) its been checked all the way round, on all streets, including the river where my friend goes all in. The first person calls, the second calls, the third says,'i think i know whats going on, but i have to call anyway' (????!!!!) the fourth calls.

They chop the pot, but after the $4 rake the seats to the left of the button all got the extra dollars, he lost exactly $1. I never said he lost the hand, just that he lost money.

I don't know if I still understand; is this what you're saying?

The hand played out among the five players, and everybody won. So the house took it's $4 rake from the pot. What remained in the pot was an amount not divisible by 5. The pot was divvied up in clockwise fashion, and because he was in late position, your friend was the one (or perhaps two) who was shortchanged?

Seriously, isn't that his fault, not speaking up? Everyone should have received exactly the same amount. Or else he should have gotten a blind waiver on the next small/big blind, whatever.

I would imagine the story was well worth the dollar.

Everyone should not have received the same amount. The players to the left of the dealer always get the extra.

For instance if you and I split a pot for $33 (and presuming there are no quarters at the table) and I was in the small blind I will always get the extra dollar. In this case I will get $17 and you will get $16.

Your puzzle works only with $1/$2 blinds -- anything higher would result in the late position player offsetting the rake and loss due to having four chips to be divided among five players. A $4 rake would be highly excessive in a $1/$2 game.

But...it is theoretically possible.

given that the legal rake is 10% of the pot, and the vegas casinos do you the 'favour' of capping it at $4 it suddenly doesnt seem so high....

Secondly it 'works' with any blind, bet structure, 10-20? $100 in limps preflop, i bet xxx so does everyone else, its a chop, so we all take our bets back, leaving $96 in the pot etc etc...

Oops. I forgot to add the limp in chips from the player on the button. You're right.

That SUCKS!!! However, whereas I would have felt bad for your friend, I would have felt a lot worse for him had he hit four 9s in a row.

It's always better when the dealer doesn't take your money.

Did he immediately leave the table? I think I would have.

Most tables won't take any sort of rake until 5 times the BB is in the pot.

I've had so many bad runner-runner or one or two outers on the river happen to me online that I cannot remember the worst..same thing in 1/2 limit where a chaser lucks out on the river and hits a straight or flush against my set, so I'll give you a recent live bad beat.

Not long ago I was playing in a live single table tournament with 4 people left and money paid to the top 2. I was in 3rd place and the short stack barely had enough for another BB. I am in the BB and get dealt AK. UTG limps, chip leader folds, short stack in SB folds. Action comes to me--since UTG had played aggressively earlier and limped, I put him on an Ace/something so I try to get him to fold by going all in (he barely had me covered). He calls and flips over a pair of nines..uh oh. Flop is K x x (whew..I'm in the lead), turn is a blank..I'm now a 95% favorite to win the hand..river is you guessed it a...9. I was gracious in defeat and he felt bad for sucking out on the river, even though it was I who sucked into sucking out on the flop.

I just chime in to tell you that I have no idea what any of you are talking about, but it sounds pretty cool. What do you guys think of the game "Let it Ride"? Is the $1 dollar bonus bet for suckers? What's the casino's percentage on that bet?

3.51% house edge with "perfect play" on the main game, anywhere from 14-37% house edge on the $1 side bet.

http://wizardofodds.com/letitride

14-37%? That's rich. I was guessing in the 10% range, but that's rather neat they can get away with such juicy gross margins. My father thinks that the $1 bet is actually subcontracted to a third party that paid the casino to be let in that part of the action. We stayed at the Wynn last weekend. Mrs. Pickles asked me what kind of people stay at the Wynn, I said, "in aggregate, losers". My uncle retorted that it wasn't just in aggregate, but at the margin also...