Ricky Landais on His WSOP Bad Beat as ‘Scramble Rule’ Deals Defeat

It will likely be the hand that is referred to for years to come. The quiz question writes itself; When did a dominating hand hit a pair on the flop and that pair disappear by the river? That’s what happened to Ricky Landais when he got all his chips on the line only to be bad beat by an obscure ruling.

The Set-Up

“There are many more issues than people realize.”

When we catch up with Ricky, he’s back in action at the WSOP felt. Still “disgusted” about the situation, Ricky is obviously still annoyed about how the hand played out. Some of that annoyance stems from the length of time he was playing a short stack leading up to the pivotal moment.

“I was grinding five-eight big blinds for over an hour,” says Ricky. “This was Day 3. There are many more issues than people realize.”

By that point, Ricky was tired and had found a great shot to double-up. All-in with ace-king, he was up against Bobby James, whose ace-nine started the hand behind. The flop brought in a king, but as the dealer spread the cards, three more cards were with it instead of the usual two. Cue a discussion between players as to what the right call should be. The king – pairing Ricky’s card – was one of the central two cards of the four spread on the table.

WSOP Staff Intervene

“I’d never heard of this rule before.”

Over walked the WSOP tournament staff, who began a discussion with both the dealer and the players, outlining the official ruling. According to Rule 39, if the flop arrives with four cards instead of three, whether the cards are exposed or not, the dealer should ‘scramble’ the four cards face down, then the floor “randomly selects one as the next burn card, and the other three are then the flop”.

Ricky says that he was previously unaware of the quite obscure rule.

“I’d never heard of this rule before. As you can see, the floor has never heard either.”

The process took a long time then proceeded to give Bobby James the chance at a runner-runner straight after an eight fell on the turn. At this point, Ricky nodded to a friend on the rail. It has his effort to try and stay calm no matter what happened.

“Precisely. I know the cameras are rolling, so I don’t want to do anything to ruin my rep.”

The River

“Will be tough to do but gotta bounce back.”

The river landed a seven, which gave Bobby James a runner-runner straight. Players reacted at the table as Ricky was taken out of the tournament 21 places short of his dream and a million dollars up top.

At this point, Ricky slowly breathed in, stood up and calmly exited the table, with as much calmness as he could muster.

Here’s the clip of the hand in full.

While the WSOP applied the correct rule to the situation, many observers sympathised with Ricky’s plight. Nick Rigby, he of the ‘Dirty Diaper’ WSOP Main Event run, said:

“Heart breaks for you, so sickening, especially if that’s not correct rule. Will be tough to do but gotta bounce back.”

Brent Ehlenbach praised Ricky on his ability to stay calm given how the hand went down.

“That’s brutal,” he said. “[I] feel so bad for you, way to keep your composure. Sending positive vibes.”

While there will doubtless be another bad beat coming right around the corner during the WSOP – it’s poker after all, and the game is full of them – none might be as painful as this one for Ricky Landais. If the Poker Gods make it up, then Ricky is due some fortune on his quest for a WSOP bracelet.