(Puzzle) When is it correct to fold a Royal Flush?

bodil19982 said:

Is this some other poker or what? I personally don't know.

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Bricxjo said:

It's after Mother's Day dinner with the family and your momma goes all in.

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primrose said:

You're playing texas hold'em. Your hand is a Royal Flush (not a draw to the Royal Flush; the hand is completed). It's your turn to act. You fold, and this was, without a shred of doubt, the correct decision. Why?

Spoiler

Hint: it's a cash game...

Spoiler

You're playing blind vs blind in a limped pot, so there's 2 BB in the middle. It goes check-check on all three streets. The royal flush is in the middle. Your opponent puts you all-in for 100 BB. You could call & put in 100 BB to chop the 202 BB pot, but because of the rake, you'd get less than 100 BB back, so it's a losing call.

This is probably the cleanest answer, but it's not actually the only one. There's actually lots of answers if you get creative enough...

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Goggelheimer said:

The question is who makes the bigger mistake here? The AI player or the caller.
Both plays are -EV, due to rake structure.

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SpanRmonka said:

What about if the casino has a high hand bonus type thing.....

So the Royal is on the board, would that even count for the high hand bonus......is it even a bad beat jackpot, as you don't win the hand outright?

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Hospedar said:

Bro, does this have any sense our am I dumb for not understanding why this would be intelligent?

Maybe you are trying to say a joke, but I'm curious to know the answer for it 😅

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primrose said:

It's a real puzzle. But I'm confused by this reaction because I put one possible answer into the spoiler in the original post...? (And don't call me bro please.)

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Hospedar said:

So, what's the answer?

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primrose said:

I'm still confused; I put the answer into the first post.

Anyway, I guess I'll restate it here. If the Royal Flush is in the middle (e.g., the board is AhKhQhJhTh), then both you and your opponent have it, so you wouldn't win the pot, you'd only chop (split it 50-50). If your opponent now puts you all-in for an amount that exceeds the pot by vast margin, then because cash games are raked, you lose money by calling. E.g., say you both have stacks of 1000$ but the pot is 8$. If you fold, you only lose 4$ in the hand (your half of the pot). If you call, then the Pot becomes 2008$ but after the rake is deducted, it will be less than 2000$, so you win less than 1000$ back on your call.

This is only one solution though; if you start thinking outside the box, there's basically limitless other ones.

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Hospedar said:

And I didn't see that you put a spoiler inside another spoiler... So I only saw your "cash game" hint

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primrose said:

You're playing texas hold'em. Your hand is a Royal Flush (not a draw to the Royal Flush; the hand is completed). It's your turn to act. You fold, and this was, without a shred of doubt, the correct decision. Why?

Spoiler

Hint: it's a cash game...

Spoiler

You're playing blind vs blind in a limped pot, so there's 2 BB in the middle. It goes check-check on all three streets. The royal flush is in the middle. Your opponent puts you all-in for 100 BB. You could call & put in 100 BB to chop the 202 BB pot, but because of the rake, you'd get less than 100 BB back, so it's a losing call.

This is probably the cleanest answer, but it's not actually the only one. There's actually lots of answers if you get creative enough...

Click to expand...