Before moving to Winston-Salem I played a lot of basement poker, usually at my friend Kevin’s house. I don’t get to play with them much any more, but they keep me in the loop via email. For the last two years a bunch of them have been going out to the World Series of Poker and it usually leads to some funny stories, and most of them have to do with "All-in Ben" (that’s him to the left), the craziest and loosest player in our group.
Kevin just got back from WSOP and here’s this year’s story in full from Kevin’s email:
"Just got back from Vegas. Have an all-in Ben story.
Ben sits down at a Texas Hold-em $25-50 No limit "CASH" game.
Starts with $3,000 in cash. Builds his chips to just under $8,000.
Starts with $3,000 in cash. Builds his chips to just under $8,000.
The Hand heard around the world!!!
Ben: pocket 7’s
player 2: pocket 9’s
player 3: pocket A’s
Player 3 bets $500 pre-flop and Ben and #2 call.
Flop: 7,7,9
Ben checks his 4 7’s.
#2 bets $1,500 with full house. #3 raises $1,500 with AA77.
$3,000 for Ben to call so he raises "all-in Ben" to $7,400
Player#2 raises $1,500 and player #3 calls.
Main pot that only Ben can win is just under $24,000.
Side pot $3,000 for player 2&3.
As the turn card comes, Ben is thinking of the new van he is going buy, pay off other gambling debts, prob. buy Erica something.
Turn card is A.
Player 2 bets big and #3 raises big.
River card comes and it changes Ben’s life forever: 9
Player 2 bets big and player 3 raises and player 2 re-raises.
Side pot at about $100,000 and main pot just under $24,000.
4 9’s beat 4 7’s and A’s full of 7’s.
Player 2 wins $124,000."
Discover more from Befuddled
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Befuddled 
I might kill somebody if that happened to me.
He had 20×1 odds against the last 9 coming up and 200×1 odds against another pair coming up.
He’s just got to get himself back into that position and keep betting the same way.
David, I agree. It’s a classic.
Jim, I also agree that he had to play it that way. How often does a flop four of a kind get beat? But that’s the kind of hand that can turn a non-drinking man into a severe tippler.