The Top 5 Worst Coolers in Poker History

Everybody loves to see big hands go up against each other. If you’re holding aces, you’re desperate for those kings to appear in another player's hand because you'll probably take them for a massive pot.

Likewise, flopping a monster usually needs someone else to flop a (slightly smaller) monster in order for you to get paid fully for your lucky hand.

Of course, there will always be an unlucky loser of these ‘cooler’ hands, and here we will look at some of the most famous and brutal coolers in the history of poker.

All The Best Pockets

Any time you pick up AA, KK, or QQ your heart beats that little bit faster – your thoughts start running ahead of themselves; how much can I win from this hand?

When it’s at the feature TV table of the European Poker Tour’s London Main Event, even the top pros get this adrenalin rush!

Frankland picked up A♥ A♦ and quite naturally open-raised, hoping of course that someone would be in a position to come along for the ride.

Larrabe was just the man, peeking down at Q♠ Q♦ and 3-bet raising – Frankland no doubt smiling inside at this point. But it wasn't done yet.

Patel found himself staring at K♣ K♥ and 4-bet! Naturally, these pros aren’t always just raising and re-raising with the nuts, so the idea that aces and queens were already at the table wouldn’t be the first thing in Patel’s mind. Kings are a huge hand pre-flop and he has to play them aggressively.

Of course, when play got back around to Frankland and his pocket rockets, he quickly shoved all-in – Larrabe and Patel only now realising what was probably about to happen, but pretty much committed to the hand stack- and pot odds-wise, and having to go along and hope for a miracle!

To save you doing the maths yourself, here’s what the percentages are for this extremely unusual 3-way all-in.

A♥ A♦ 67%

Q♠ Q♦ 16%

K♣ K♥ 17%

Patel and Larrabe, as you can see, weren’t drawing quite as dead as you might think in such a hand, but the board ran out

3♣ 4♣ 8♥ 7♦ 5♠

And in this ultimate 3-way cooler hand, Larrabe was sent to the rails, the biggest stack Patel was crippled in the side-pot and Shankland was a very happy man indeed!

One In a Billion

Hitting quads on the river is something which happens to very few players in their live poker careers, so when it happens at the World Series of Poker Main Event, the feeling must be immense! At least, that’s what Motoyuki Mabuchi was doubtless thinking back in 2008, in a hand with Justin Phillips

He was dealt the black aces A♣ A♠, the best-looking of the pocket rockets, and Mabuchi was confident while he waited for the river card to be dealt on a board of

A♥ 9♣ Q♦ 10♦

When it came (A♥ 9♣ Q♦ 10♦) A♦

Mabuchi bet out on his quads. Phillips raised and the Japanese pro couldn’t wait to shove (literally, the chips splash the entire table almost!). Phillips, called the all-in immediately.

Mabuchi must have had that sinking feeling when the US player turned over the

K♦ J♦

showing down the daddy of all hands, a Royal Flush, for one of the best and biggest coolers in poker history.

As almost everyone at the table said, Phillips the loudest and happiest naturally, WOW! And the commentators could only point out the heart-breaking obvious for the Japanese man, “Quad aces, the last hand of your Main Event!”

River Quads

At the Big One-for-One Drop $1million buy-in event, and with the blinds at 300K/600K/75K ante, Sam Trickett decided to min-raise in early position and was called by Brian Rast, and then Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari also decided to call.

This is top-level poker, as good as it gets player-wise, and when the flop came a rather scary-looking 4♥ 3♥ 8♥ for most lesser-players the action would often slow-down considerably. Flush draw flops get people scared –but here, well, not quite!

When Esfandiari checked, Trickett continued his betting, leaving Rast to act last on the button. As the commentators pointed out, “You can see how the blinds really affect the play late in the action; every bet incrementally larger and more effect on the shorter stacks.”

Rast finally called, Esfandiari folded and the turn came

(4♥ 3♥ 8♥) 10♠

Trickett thought for a while and bet out 3.8m into an almost 8m pot, and Rast finally just called – almost but not quite committing his stack come the river.

With the river falling the (4♥ 3♥ 8♥ 10♠) 3♠

With the river missing almost every flush or straight draw, Trickett went all-in and was instantly called by Rast. So what made this hand so special?

Rast turned over the A♥ J♥ for the nut flush, only to be instantly coolered by the 3♣ 3♦ of Trickett, his quads 3’s being made on the river!! A brutally painful exit from a $1million buy-in event and almost impossible to criticise Rast’s play.

Two-Sided Race

When Harry Law picked up the A♦ A♣ at EPT Deauville’s Main Event final table last year, and his raise was then 3-bet by Koutoupas

Not quite, folks – as everyone knows it ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings. Law’s 4-bet was followed by an all-in from the Greek player and, of course, an instacall from the Englishman. The ‘one-sided race’ was on.

So, what did the flop bring?

7♥ 6♥ 5♥ of course!

Koutoupas had just flopped the nut flush and gone from being a 12% dog to a 98% favourite – the ‘fat lady’ had dramatically changed her tune!

When the turn and river bricked for Law’s pocket rockets, his serving up a cooler had just turned into a suck-out nightmare as he donned his jacket and left the arena in 5th place.

His €164,000 ($225,000) payday was some consolation, as was the fact that his somewhat lucky opponent put the chips to good use and went on to take down the title, but boy was that a painful flop!

You're Going to Need a Bigger Boat

$182million were at stake in our final cooler, and the fact that they were Hong Kong $ (still a whopping 23.5million US$) at the Macau High-Roller event this year doesn’t detract from the horror of seeing a huge hand being swallowed by an even bigger one!

German pro Philip Gruissem liked the look of his K♣ J♣ and decided to open-raise for 3BB. Pang behind him looked down at 8♣ 8♥ and quite reasonably decided to come along for the ride, as did Jerry Yang on the big blind with J♦ 10♥.

The flop appeared

9♣ K♦ J♠

So now Pang, with nothing, checked. Yang, with a ‘something’ hand bet out half the pot and Gruissem -who had to be licking his lips at that flop-eventually just called and was rewarded with the turn card

(9♣ K♦ J♠) J♥

giving him a full house. However, Yang also made his trips! Gruissem checked and Yang did the same behind him, only to see the river fall

(9♣ K♦ J♠ J♥) 9♦

now filling Yang’s boat also! Yang’s suck-bet of 10k into 100k didn’t bother Gruissem who simply shoved his last 54,000 chips into the pot, and Yang naturally had to call – only to see the terrible news that Gruissem’s bigger boat had scooped the pot.

With a sigh and laugh, Yang took the cooler well – there would be many pros at these stakes spewing at such a turn of events.

So there you have it people. Coolers are just part and parcel of the game and generally are more accepted by players (as opposed to bad beats) because they happen without anybody playing badly at all! A strong player with a strong hand loses to another strong player – with a stronger hand!