Poker Puzzle

I’ve been playing in the Talking Poker forum’s Head’s Up challenge for the past few weeks.  It began with a field of 32, the top four places get paid some cash and various goodies based on the forum’s logo design.

I managed to work my way to the round of four and then won the first match in a best two out of three semifinal round.  But, alas, I dropped two consecutive matches last night to get eliminated.  As is with most headsup matches, timing is of the utmost importance.  Last night, it seemed every bluff I made was picked off by a better hand, and every made hand I had was outdrawn.  The final hand saw me push with AA and lose to a 5-outer on the turn for trip tens.  I may get to play for 3rd place with one final match, but I’m not sure when that will take place.

****

More interestingly, the forum’s creator Mark came up with a really cool poker related question.  I’ll simply cut and paste it for you here.

Situation: Texas Hold Em. Two players in the hand. There are four cards on the board, with only the river card left to come.

Describe a situation where the hand that is currently winning can NEVER win the pot after the river card is dealt. More specifically, in the situation I am looking for, the currently losing hand has exactly 19 outs to win and 25 to tie (there are 44 unknown cards in the deck).

Yours truly came out the winner.  Before you go on over to find out my answer, give it a shot yourself.  It’s a neat little question, IMHO.