A Tale of Two Royal Flushes - Patrick Leonard Does the Seemingly Impossible

19:11
17 Oct

A royal flush is the highest-ranking hand possible in poker — a combination of cards that is as elusive as it is powerful. The odds of landing a royal flush are approximately 1 in 650,000. Yet, in an extraordinary turn of events, MTT crusher Patrick Leonard defied these odds not once, but twice, within a span of just 20 minutes.

This remarkable feat occurred during the recent World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) series on PokerStars. The first royal flush came during the final table of the $2,100 8-Max NL Hold'em PKO High Roller event.

With four players remaining and Leonard second in chips, he limped on the button with K♣Q♣ and saw a heads-up flop against "RomeOpro." The flop ran out 10♣A♣J♣, giving Leonard a royal flush there and then.

But his good fortune didn't stop there. Only 20 minutes later lady luck smiled on the Brit once again.

The second one came in the $109 No-Limit Hold'em PKO Series Saver against "99Palanke." The flop and turn showed A♣J♦A♦Q♦ and Leonard had K♦10♦ in the hole.

With the blinds at 6,000/12,000, he bet 46,800 and his opponent check-raised to 93,600.Leonard called and faced a jam on the river which he snapped called with his opponent turning his queen-jack into a bluff.

The occurrence of two royal flushes in such a short span is unheard of, even in online poker where significantly more hands are played than in live poker.

To put it into perspective, a high-volume professional player who plays for 10 hours per day on 300 days of the year might hit a royal flush only once every eight years.

Tales such as this are great for the promotion of the game of poker. Poker legend Mike Matusow, told how he has only made three royal flushes in his 27-year career. He then suggested that Leonard should buy a lottery ticket given his incredible run of luck, to which he replied that he would and share the winnings with him.