Nick Rigby Plays the 2-3 "Dirty Diaper" in 2021 WSOP Main Event

November 14, 2021

Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Should He Have Folded?
Playing the 2-3 Again

Nicholas Rigby made some interesting calls with 3x2x on Day 5 of the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, where he built a big stack throughout the day. But it wasn't because of his love for NBA legend Michael Jordan, who famously wore the #23 for the Chicago Bulls.

When poker's world championship tournament concludes next week, one player will take home $8 million. If Rigby continues stacking chips at his current rate, he just might claim that seven-figure prize. But there appears to be only one thing that could stop him from reaching that mountain top — refusing to fold a hand dubbed in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as "The Dirty Diaper."

There is actually a reason why he loves to play the three-deuce, and it has nothing to do with GTO. Rigby's rowdy and inebriated friends on his rail inside the Amazon room explained on the PokerGO stream why their pal likes to play the 3-2.

"The Diaper is a famous hand in Pittsburgh," one of his friends explained to PokerGO's Jeff Platt. "The three-deuce is called The Dirty Diaper if it's off-suit, and we play it all the time."

Rigby's friend continued to explain that they play the 3-2 game in Pittsburgh like others play the 7-2 game, where everyone at the table must ship a chip to a player who wins a hand with 7-2. In their case, the bounty is on for when a player takes down a pot with the 3-2.

In the Main Event, or any tournament, you can't play those games, but Rigby's a cash game player, according to his friends. During Day 5 of poker's biggest event, he brought The Dirty Diaper game across the country to Las Vegas, except no one else was playing along.

Should He Have Folded?

On Saturday, Rigby was virtually unstoppable much of the day. He began play with 1.7 million chips, a bit above average. He'd build that stack up quickly on Day 6 as he jumped into the chip lead just after the dinner break at over 9 million chips.

Earlier in the session, however, he ran into a bit of a hiccup due to a, well, let's just say questionable decision. Following a raise to 80,000 from a middle-position player, he three-bet to 185,000 from the cutoff with 3♠2♥ because why not? John Song then four-bet all in to 655,000 and action folded back to Rigby, who thought about it for a bit before deciding to call.

Song turned over a premium hand — A♦K♥ — and the best hand would hold up when the board ran out K♠6♥4♠6♣8♥. Rigby had over 4.7 million chips when the hand began and lost about 14% of his stack messing around chasing a diaper.

Playing the 2-3 Again

He clearly didn't learn his lesson because later in the evening, on the PokerGO feature table, he dusted off some more with the same hand. But, hey, at least this time they were suited.

Stephen Song raised to 100,000 and Robert Cowen three-bet to 325,000 with J♠J♣. Rigby flatted with 3♣2♣ and then Benjamin Armstrong jammed for 1.17 million with A♠A♦. Action folded back to Cowen who moved all-in and then Rigby had a decision to make.

In a vacuum, his hand was weak and so a fold would seem like the correct play. But as commentator Nick Schulman explained on PokerGO, he was getting over 3/1 on his money, good enough odds against certain ranges. Plus, when you factor in the diaper equity, making the call seemed reasonable.

If he was up against AxKx and AxQx, or hands along those lines, the 3♣2♣ wouldn't be in horrible shape, and with a big stack, he could afford to lose some chips to try and bust two players in one hand. So, he made the call, but didn't get any help.

Cowen, however, snapped off the rockets when the board ran out 9♣8♥6♥J♥7♠, sending Armstrong home. Rigby was back to around 7 million chips, or about 140 big blinds at the time, still in great shape.

Despite the missteps, Rigby has been stacking chips for days in poker's most prestigious tournament. He begins Day 6 with 5.2 million chips, which puts him in 30th place out of 96 remaining players. So long as he limits his diaper game action, he just might reach the final table.

He might also want to consider cutting back on the off-suit six-deuces, eight-nines, and the other low value hands he's been playing. Or, maybe he'd be best to continue doing what he's been doing. It seems to be working, but will it continue on Day 6?

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