A Little Royalty - For The 6th Time!

 Ahhh ... the illusive Royal Flush. The odds of hitting one are 649,739 to 1. Last night was a night for statistical aberration. My name was called for an open seat at $2/3 NL Hold em at the Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, AZ. I went to table and was confused. One player told me that a player left and another was taking his seat after playing his button, I patiently waited when there was a bit of a stir at the table. It turned out that the player who was playing his button rivered a Royal Flush using both his hole cards. Since there was a football promotion in progress, he only received $100 for the Royal. He then decided to keep his seat (6 in a table of 7), and I sat down in the open seat, seat 2. I got on Twitter and started some fun discussion about missing out on the Royal.

After an hour or two of play and with a stack that was only moderately going up and down, I decided to take the seat immediately on the dealer's right -- seat 7. I was able to chip up a bit and contemplated heading home, but I decided to stay. This was a fortunate decision, as several hands later I rivered a diamond Royal Flush! Although I was fortunate to have had several when I started playing poker, it had been a long nine years since my last. The odds of two players sitting next to each other both hitting Royal Flushes using both hole cards in a span of 3 1/2 hours? Absolutely astronomical!

My six Royal Flushes, in order:

1) October 14, 2006  True Poker (online)

2) October 2, 2008  Bodog Poker (online)

3) June 20, 2009  Bally's,  Las Vegas, NV

4) December 10, 2009  Bally's,  Las Vegas, NV

5) December 12, 2012  Venetian,  Las Vegas, NV

6) December 19, 2021  Talking Stick,  Scottsdale, AZ

If you play poker and have ever had one or several, you know that the feeling in getting one is indescribable. If you play poker regularly, you know that there are times when you get close, but then ... I feel pretty fortunate to have gotten this many. However, the wait of nine years since the last one was sure a long time. I certainly hope the next one is just around the corner -- maybe in a year or so!

Do you have any good Royal Flush stories?

Thanks for reading!