Royal Flush Time

Last June I flew to Vienna to play in the World Heads-Up Poker Championships (WHUPC) at the Concorde Card Casino (CCC). I was excited because the main event promised to be pretty spectacular, with cameras underneath the tables and the first-ever WHUPC title on the line. (You can now purchase WHUPC videos of some of the matches, featuring players like Ted Forrest, Amarillo "Slim" Preston, Bruno Fitoussi – the winner, and me. The videos are really cool, and you might even pick up a "tell" on … me!) Although I went there to win the WHUPC, sometimes things don't turn out as you plan or hope. While I didn't win the final event, I did win a no-limit hold'em event, which ended only two hours before I jumped on my overseas flight home at 11 a.m. You would think that I would have slept on the plane ride home after playing poker all night long, but Layne Flack and I ended up playing Chinese poker and enjoying some fine wine along the way (but that's another story for another time).

The Sporthotel in Vienna had a dozen computers set up in the lobby while I was there. I had some spare time on my hands at one point, and decided to play some poker at ultimatebet.com – a sponsor of mine. I downloaded UB's free software to one of the Sporthotel's computers so that I could play a little limit hold'em in cyberspace.

One morning I was having breakfast after a winning online session and felt the urge to go back and play poker for another 20 minutes or so. After logging on and sitting down in the game with my screen name "PhilHellmuth," I posted the $5 big blind in a threehanded $5-$10 limit hold'em game, and something really great happened. The button raised to $10, the small blind reraised to $15, and I decided to call with the Q J. The button called, and the flop came down A K 10! For the first time in my life, I had flopped a royal flush! Now, the small blind bet, I decided to smooth-call, and the button raised. The small blind called, and I decided that my best move was to reraise it to $15 to go. The button capped it for $20, and the small blind folded. Flopping a royal is fantastic, but getting this kind of action made it even better. On fourth street, a K came off for a board of A K 10 K. I bet out, my opponent raised, I reraised, my opponent reraised, I made it five bets, and my opponent just called. (Did he have a full house, or what?) On the end, the J came off for a board of A K 10 K J. I bet out, my opponent raised, I reraised, my opponent called, and my hand was immediately shown. My opponent then showed me his hand: A-J. I was stunned, because he had given me so much extra action.

Sometimes I forget that I always play with the best poker tournament players in the world, and that there are lots of poker players out there who have never even heard of the World Series of Poker. Even though I play online with players from China, South America, Thailand, Sweden, and other exotic locales, sometimes I forget how big the poker-playing world really is.

I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.

Editor's note: Phil Hellmuth can often be found playing poker online at ultimatebet.com. Join him there for some online poker, or send your poker questions for Phil's response. For more information about Phil Hellmuth or for more of his Hand of the Week articles, go to www.PhilHellmuth.com.