The elusive royal flush is the rarest and most powerful hand in all of poker. The chances of getting one are so astronomical that there are players who can play their whole career without ever seeing one, let alone get one themselves.
The odds of achieving a royal flush are 1 in 649,740. So yes, they are incredibly rare. Most players will only see a handful in their lives. In fact, there are only a few royal flushes that have been captured on TV out of all the TV poker hands through the years.
Canadian poker pro, YouTuber and poker streamer Kevin Martin decided to take those poker hand odds head-on. In early December, Martin began an ambitious quest and giveaway on his YouTube channel to find the poker equivalent of Bigfoot.
Every day, Martin would pick a suited broadway hand and run out boards trying to make a royal flush. On day 1, Martin would run one board. On day 2, he would run two boards. Martin would deal three boards on the third day, and so on and so on.
Additionally, Martin generated a prize pool to give away. When he started the challenge, he had 117,000 subscribers on YouTube. For each day the challenge lasted, he would add $117 into the pot. He increased the amount donated to the pot for every 1,000 subscribers he gained.
It took him more than three months, but on the 99th day, the GGPoker ambassador completed the challenge. He took A♦K♦ and found a flop that included the J♦10♦.
The turn was a brick, but the Q♦ came on the river, giving him a royal flush and ending the challenge as he burst into celebration, having completed the challenge in dramatic fashion.
Soon, he’ll pick 20 subscribers to play poker or another luck-based game for $11,959. You can watch the whole video below:
It took Martin 4,908 hands to reach the holy grail of poker hands. Considering the aforementioned 1 in 649,740 odds of making a royal flush, Martin was actually incredibly lucky to finish the challenge on day 99 as it could have gone on for a much longer period of time.
At Martin’s pace, if he took a full 649,740 hands, it would’ve taken him 1,140 days to deal that many hands. Stated differently, it would’ve been three years and one month worth of content for his YouTube channel. And not to mention, it would’ve also cost him a lot more.
For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume Martin added $117 each day. The stunt would’ve cost Martin $133,380. That just adds to the relief and drama of the final queen of diamonds hitting that river.