button in SafariAccidental Genius: How a Fist-Bump Created the Perfect Poker Bluff
Perhaps the gold standard for bluffs was accidentally made during a mid-major poker tournament on Tuesday when a player check-folded the best hand during heads-up play.
The hand occurred during the livestreamed final table of the Asian Poker Tour (APT) Taipei with just two players remaining — Ritwik Khanna from India and Trung Quan Nguyen from Vietnam.
A Bluff without a Bet?
Khanna and Nguyen both had big scores already locked up, $170,000 going to the winner after a heads-up chop. But they'd play one of the wildest hands you'll probably see until the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP).
It all began with Nguyen limping the button with K♠5♣, followed by a check from the big blind, who had K♥6♥. The flop came out 6♦Q♦Q♥, hitting Khanna, the smaller stack. He checked, however, before the button fired out a bet of 600,000, the size of one big blind.
Khanna then check-raised to 1,800,000. A fold was expected, but Nguyen, sitting on king-high, decided instead to call with 7% equity. The turn was the 6♣, which improved Khanna's hand to a full house. He again checked, and that induced a bet of 1,500,000 from an opponent still stuck on king-high and only drawing to a two-outer for a chop.
Khanna then check-raised for a second time to 4,000,000, although the livestream graphics showed it was an all-in bet. Nguyen surprisingly snap-called, or went all in, leading to some confusion that forced the floor supervisor to be called over to the table.
Nguyen appeared disappointed the bet was less than all in, perhaps setting up for a bluff on the river, or maybe he thought his hand was superior. He then stood up from his seat and gave his rail what appeared to be a victorious fist bump, trying to give off the impression he really did have the best hand. This would come into play after the floor ruled that the bet would be for 4,000,000, and Nguyen would have to call that much.
The river was the 3♠, no improvement to either hand. Khanna checked, and the graphics show Nguyen bluff-shoving river, putting Khanna all in. Khanna instantly mucked almost as soon as Nguyen bet. Nguyen then turned over his cards, and it didn't appear as if he was doing so to show a bluff. He apparently wanted to make a point that he knew his opponent was bluffing, albeit he was incorrect in that assumption.
"Oh my goodness, this would be hard to sleep at night after," Adam Hendrix, who reached the 2025 WSOP Main Event final table, tweeted.
The play was either the bluff of the year or the misread of the year. We'll let you figure it out. But the hand didn't matter in the end because Khanna rallied to win the 329-player tournament, while Nguyen took home $163,000 for second place.
