Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2023 October 23

= October 23 =

"Impossible bets" in poker
I'm curious about cases in poker where it's a guaranteed impossibility for one player to beat another – e.g. if I'm playing 7-card stud and show four 10s, and my opponent shows four unpaired, unsuited cards no higher than 9. Is there a term for an "impossible bet" made by my opponent in that situation, and do any poker rulesets prohibit such bets? Lazar Taxon (talk) 05:55, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Not as far as I know for either situation. If you were really, really, really desperate or reckless, you might bet hoping your opponent misreads their hand. I once played in a live hold'em game where a guy folded a royal flush for just that reason. (The only reason the rest of us found out is because the guy sitting next to the folder gasped and asked him to turn over his cards.) But yeah, the poker rules aren't there to protect fish from making dumb mistakes. Clarityfiend (talk) 12:26, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Anything and everything can happen. I once played the shortest round of 8-player holdem possible when I was at the Rio in Vegas. On the very first deal, I had a pair of 2's. In pre-flop bet, the first guy goes all in. The lady next to him laughs and goes all in as if it is a joke. Thinking they are just stupid, it continues. I'm the last one. Since everyone is all in and I already have a pair, I figure that the $1,000 buy-in isn't too much to lose to take part in the fun and go all in. Then, the flop. Two more 2's drop. Nobody can bet because everyone is all in. It continues and nobody has anything useful. I have four of a kind and walk away with an extra $7,000. I gave a hundred to the dealer and ignored their complaints as I refused to give them a chance to get the money back. Instead, I went to see Penn and Teller. Just as someone can fold on a sure thing, an entire table can go all in for no valid reason. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 13:44, 23 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Wasn't that a daisy! ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:42, 24 October 2023 (UTC)