button in SafariPoker Player Hits Royal Flush at Major Tournament Final Table, Doesn't Show Cards
A player deep in the EPT Barcelona Main Event hit the rarest of rare poker hands on Friday.
Lukas van Eeden, an amateur Dutch player with minimal live tournament results, hit the dream hand on Day 6 while playing for a shot at the €1,370,050 first-place prize. But he didn't want anyone else at the table to know that he hit the type of hand some players go an entire lifetime without hitting.
Hitting the Royal Deep at EPT Barcelona
The €5,300 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em tournament, which attracted 1,823 entrants, was down to just nine players inside Casino Barcelona. While all remaining players were guaranteed at least €126,950, they were all focused on the title.
Jose Criado, playing in his home country, was sitting on 100 big blinds and knew how to use that big stack to his advantage. He raised the button to 250,000, twice the big blind, with 6♦4♦, looking to take down the blinds and increase his stack.
The raise forced the small blind to fold, but Van Eeden called from the big blind with K♣J♣. The flop came out 2♠A♣10♣, not a darn thing there for the preflop raiser, but a Royal Flush draw for the blig blind, who wasn't going to be folding to any bet.
Action checked to the Spaniard, who fired out a continuation bet of 175,000 with nothing. That wager was called before the 3♣ locked up the hand for Van Eeden, who didn't hit the Royal but did turn a flush. He again checked it back to the aggressor, who picked up a gutter ball that would be costly if it were to hit on the river.
Criado fired out another bet, this time going big for 750,000. Van Eeden wasn't about to fold a flush. His only decision was to call or raise, and he went with the former.
It doesn't happen often that a player turns the nuts and then actually improves on the river, but that's precisely what happened in this hand when the Q♣ on the river turned Van Eeden's nut flush into a Royal Flush.
Unfortunately, for the Dutchman, his opponent had nothing but six-high. He decided, however, to lead for 650,000 instead of letting Criado fire another barrel, leading to a quick fold.
Van Eeden decided to just toss his winning hand in the muck instead of showing it off to the rest of the table. It was a surprising move given most poker players will almost always show a hand such as a Royal Flush or a straight flush. He later explained his thought process to PokerNews.
“That might be one of the mistakes I made today, but I was a bit flabbergasted by getting a Royal Flush. I never had one, and the spot was so rare. I didn’t expect any bet from him anymore because I really crushed him. He could not have any flush, so I f****d it up a bit. But yeah, well, that’s it," Van Eeden said of leading out on the river.
“I was busy with my head still processing if I did the correct thing on the river because it’s a bit of a strange spot. I thought a little lead maybe could get extracted a little bit from him because I did have to check what he had. I don’t think he was calling much, and I don’t think he was bluffing either. So yeah, maybe I should have shown it, but they can see it in a video. Next time, if there’s a next time, I’ll show it.”
Van Eeden, at the time of publishing, was fifth in chips with eight players remaining. Criado was still in the chip lead even after running into a Royal Flush. The EPT Barclona Main Event will play down to a winner on Saturday.
