The odds of making a Royal Flush are 649,739 to 1. But what are the odds of making one in the presence of one of the greatest poker players of all time?
Well, that's exactly what happened to 888poker's newest ambassador Chris Eubank Jr.
Playing with Hellmuth in Ivey's Room
The former two-time super-middleweight World Champion boxer bumped just happened to bump into Phil Hellmuth in Las Vegas, and next thing he knew he was playing in a private cash game in Ivey's Room.
"I was playing $1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em in the ARIA," Eubank told PokerNews. "I'd never thought about sitting down with a lot of money, I was just playing for fun! So I played there for a few hours and I left and was on my way to the club.
"But as I was walking out, I saw Phil Hellmuth walking back towards the poker room. I'd just started reading his book, but I'm not the type of guy to just walk up to them and ask for a picture, so it was just something I thought was cool."
However, Eubank's inner poker fan came out on top in the end, and he ended up approaching Hellmuth after all.
"You'll Love It, Don't Worry About It"
"I just said hello, and told him to keep doing his thing. He asked me who I was, and I told him, and he said he liked boxing. We took a picture, and he asked me what I was doing. I told him I was going to go to the club, but he invited me to a private game in Ivey's Room.
Read More: You Won't Believe How Much Phil Hellmuth Won During the 2021 WSOP
"'You'll love it, don't worry about it,' he said to me. So I sat down in Ivey's Room with Steve Aoki and this drunk strip club owner. And I didn't have the cash on me to buy in — these guys are buying in for $15-20,000. So this guy just throws me a $5,000 chip."
Having got the money to play, Eubank says that he ended up winning about $11,000.
"I was praying he would have a blow-up during the game, and he did so I've got videos of that"
"I played the game and actually did really well. I made my first Royal Flush, and that was my introduction to high stakes poker."
And what about Hellmuth?
"He's a really cool guy," said Eubank. "I was praying he would have a blow-up during the game, and he did so I've got videos of that. We've kept a relationship; I'm in a WhatsApp group with him where we talk about poker and sports betting. I've played with him a number of times.
