Last week, Christian Pham was in Las Vegas for a World Series of Poker event. Pham thought that he had signed up for the $1,500 limit hold’em tournament.
He was mistaken.
Much to his confusion, Pham realized that he had accidentally entered the no-limit 2-7 single draw tournament when he was dealt his first hand of the tournament. Seeing as how he could not unregister, Pham decided to stick it out and learn on the fly.
Luckily for Christian, one player at his table lent him a hand on the first day. For instance, Pham learned just what the hell no-limit 2-7 single draw is and which hands are best (no limit 2-7 single draw is basically the opposite of no limit Texas hold’em, where the worst hand wins the pot).
“There was a very nice older gentleman sitting next to me, and he told me ‘2-3-4-5-7 is the nuts, and 2-3-4-6-7 is the second nuts,'” Pham told Poker News. “I put that in my phone and tried to figure out what hands I can play. After that I kept learning, but I also got good hands. I folded the first seven hands until I’d learned the game from the guy who was sitting besides me. He was very nice.”
After a quick night of studying, Pham would go on to win the whole damn tournament on Friday and the $81,314 first place prize.
However, Pham’s win isn’t totally improbable. The man has cashed at four WSOP events and he’s earned $133,683 at WSOP tournaments and $240,162 on the WSOP Circuit.
Still, this particular case proves that it definitely pays to be lucky and good.
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