Kyle Bowker Lays Down Quad Sevens in Main Event

Kyle Bowker won his first WSOP bracelet last week, but everyone was talking about him today because of what he threw in the muck.

Bowker folded quad sevens on the river of a K♠ 9♠ 7 x 7x T♠ board.

Bowker relayed the hand to WSOP.com and after they reported it, it was immediately met with skepticism. 

He had to be messing with the live reporters. Right? Who in their right minds would fold quads?

Apparently, Bowker.

Is this a real @wsop main event hand? pic.twitter.com/BSPXJNGoaW

— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) July 13, 2016

Quads Folded, Confirmed

Tim Reilly and other players at the table confirmed that Bowker folded the hand. Reilly also said there were only two bets on the river. The last bet ended in a clock call.

When the minute ticked down Bowker turned over two sevens and the table went wild. The only hand that could beat him was precisely Q♠ T♠.

While his opponent didn’t show, he said he had it. Reilly believed him, too, but we’ll never know for sure. 

Some people reacted on Twitter saying they’d go broke anytime with quads. Over the long term that’s definitely the winning strategy, but it isn’t necessarily always right.

This is the Main Event. There’s $8 million up for grabs and there’s no bad beat jackpot. When you’re done, you’re done.

Not the First Time Quads Hit the Muck at WSOP

This isn’t the first high-profile quads to hit the muck at the WSOP. Back in 2012, during the inaugural Big One for One Drop, Mikhail Smirnov folded quad eights on the river of a J♠ 8♣ 7♠ 8♠ K♠ board.

Hitting quads is unlikely enough as it is. Losing with quads will get you a jackpot in lots of card rooms.

Folding quads face up at the WSOP seems to be a quadrennial event like the World Cup, except possibly more shocking.

Maybe someone will fold quad 6s face up in 2020.

Hopefully that time someone will show the straight flush so the rest of the world can stop speculating.

But that might ruin part of what makes poker so great: the mystery of incomplete information.