Lost against a "higher Nut-flush"! How is this possible?!

DocNeptun · #1 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 12:24 PM

Hi,
while playing limited hold'em on pokerstars.net i lost a really big bet.. i still can't believe it happened... I decided to play [A

9

] from middle position, i raised, which drove out all players except one in the BB (which i estimated as "loose-agressive")... I flopped top-pair with [4

A

Q

] and there was "heavy betting". The Turn brought [2

], so i still held top pair and had a flush draw. The nutflush came through the backdoor on the River [6

], so i went on betting, confident that i held the best possible hand... But in the end, I lost the pot against [K

10

] because BB had the higher hole-card!

..is this a general poker rule or a pokerstars.net speciality? I have never heard of that darn rule before...

PS: i would love to hear your comments on my strategy

regards, Mario

JHickle · #2 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 12:27 PM

That's the rule. If two or more players are holding a flush with the identical high card, the next highest card in the flush is the winner.

jdunford · #3 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocNeptun

Hi,
while playing limited hold'em on pokerstars.net i lost a really big bet.. i still can't believe it happened... I decided to play [A

9

] from middle position, i raised, which drove out all players except one in the BB (which i estimated as "loose-agressive")... I flopped top-pair with [4

A

Q

] and there was "heavy betting". The Turn brought [2

], so i still held top pair and had a flush draw. The nutflush came through the backdoor on the River [6

], so i went on betting, confident that i held the best possible hand... But in the end, I lost the pot against [K

10

] because BB had the higher hole-card!

That's standard poker rules. There's no tie unless you have identical hands. His hand was A

10

6

4

2

, which beats your A

9

6

4

2

. In this case, a player with the nut flush has K

, since A

belongs to the community.

tastic · #4 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 12:41 PM

on that board the nut flush would have been a K

in the hole...

in your hand your opponent had 4th nut (10

) and you had 5th nut (9

)..

hachkc · #5 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 12:42 PM

That's been part of poker rules forever. Remember, it takes 5 cards to make the hand so as someone stated ATxxx beats A9xxx.

ky70 · #6 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 12:58 PM

Doc, you really would want to know these type of things (what hand beats what) before you start playing for money anywhere.

noelsarchs · #7 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocNeptun

Hi,
while playing limited hold'em on pokerstars.net i lost a really big bet.. i still can't believe it happened... I decided to play [A

9

] from middle position, i raised, which drove out all players except one in the BB (which i estimated as "loose-agressive")... I flopped top-pair with [4

A

Q

] and there was "heavy betting". The Turn brought [2

], so i still held top pair and had a flush draw. The nutflush came through the backdoor on the River [6

], so i went on betting, confident that i held the best possible hand... But in the end, I lost the pot against [K

10

] because BB had the higher hole-card!

..is this a general poker rule or a pokerstars.net speciality? I have never heard of that darn rule before...

PS: i would love to hear your comments on my strategy

regards, Mario

You never did have the NUT flush. If you had the Ace of clubs in your hand, yes you had the nut flush. But you needed to be more careful as there were 4 cards higher than your 9 that beat you as you found out.

I've also found that people chase flushes against most odds anyway. I can't tell you how many times I've folded hands like 5 7 suited that hit a flush that would have won, but also how many times I've lost with the same hand like you did. Worse yet is when someone has nothing in their hand execpt that 10 clubs only to draw out on your 9 and your pair of aces to take down a big pot.

99%evil · #8 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 01:27 PM

Also don't forget that if the board flushes, the one that has a higher suited card than the lowest card on the board wins the pot, with the highest suited card winning. I've seen folks think they've split a flush board and try and argue the point. I've also seen a guy split a pot that had a suited card to the board, but it was the 2... Very basic poker rules, just make sure you know all the rules before you start playing with strangers.

DocNeptun · #9 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Doc, you really would want to know these type of things (what hand beats what) before you start playing for money anywhere

Ha ha, i should thoroughly consider this advice ... So, are there any other rules i don't know about

honestly, i did "play money" hold'em for six months now, played thousands of hands both online and against KI and read three poker-books front to back... so i felt confident enough to raise the stakes and wager some real bucks...
I simply -never- came across a comparable situation, and no one explained it to me, so i didn't know until now...

PS: Fortuna smiled on me again, shortly afterwards, when i won a pot twice the size with an Ace-high-straight

regards, Mario

Quads · #10 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DocNeptun

PS: i would love to hear your comments on my strategy

regards, Mario

With A/9o in mid position .......my comment is rather simple- At best, you have a marginal hand.

Fold

p.s. There is no such thing as a "higher nut flush" You either have the nuts, or you don't.