Math and odds are important parts of Texas Hold’em poker. James Bond knows this (of course). In the final hand of Casino Royale, four players move all-in on the river and Bond scoops the $115 million pot, thanks to smart play.
These were the cards on the board:
Ah-8s-6s-4s-As
In Hollywood movies however, these scenes are sensationalised at their best, making it quite hard to miss an obvious blunder or inaccurate series of events. One such movie, and I might be touching a nerve here, is the often hailed Casino Royale, usually found at the very top of the 5 best poker scenes in movies. One of the main plot points of Casino Royale revolves around Bond taking on Mads Mikkelsen’s terrorist financier Le Chiffre at a high-stakes game of poker. Looking back on these poker sequences. The Casino Royale chips weigh 13.5 grams each and we think this is the best of our budget priced chips. These chips are not as slippery as most of the heavy weight chips we sell and shuffle perfectly. Click here to purchase a sample set. Casino Royale plaques are also available.
And these were the players’ hands:
Player 1: Ks-Qs
Player 2: 8c-8d
Le Chiffre: Ac-6h
James Bond: 7s-5s
As we can se, Bond had an unbeatable hand on the turn, but with the help of the odds calculator we can find out what his chances of winning the pot were before the flop and on the flop. This is the result:
Pre-flop:
Player 1: 34.51% chance of winning
Player 2: 30.87% chance of winning
Le Chiffre: 22.18% chance of winning
James Bond: 12.30% chance of winning.
Casino Royale Poker Game
As we can see, Bond had the by far worst hand before the flop. Even the evil Le Chiffre had a bigger chance of winning at this point, even though Ac-6h is a rather crappy hand, not worthy of a super-villain. .
Casino Royale Poker Scene Explained
On the flop:
Player 1: 15.00% chance of winning
Player 2: 47.69% chance of winning
Le Chiffre: 9.02% chance of winning
James Bond: 28.29% chance of winning.
Bond’s chances improve greatly thanks to his open-ended straight flush draw. Le Chiffre is in a bad spot, but player 2 has the best hand with three eights.
The 4s on the turn was the perfect card for Bond, and he was cool enough to allow the other players to improve their hands on the river. The Ace was another perfect card as it made Bond’s three opponents move all-in for crazy amounts of money. Bond naturally knew that he had the best possible hand and he could just relax and collect all the chips.
So, what’s the lesson here? Probably none at all – you shouldn’t use James Bond movies as a source for poker strategy, even though gambling is a popular theme. But you can clearly see that the value of hands change dramatically throughput a Texas Hold’em hand. Bond took maximum advantage of this.
Please use the Poker Odds Calculator below and learn the odds for Bond’s hand and any other hands of poker.
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