Two players scored a Broadway straight, but only one would win the hand
A wild hand during the European Poker Tour (EPT) Malta turned heads when one player’s Ace-Queen suited ran straight into the same hand, only to lose to poker’s rarest possible outcome. The hand took place on Day 3 of the €1,650 (US$1,920) PokerStars Open, eventually won by Britain’s Scott Margereson for €423,700 (US$492,729). Portugal’s Claudio Coelho and the Netherlands’ Mateusz Moolhuizen both found themselves all in holding Ace-Queen suited, setting up a showdown that seemed destined to end in a split pot.
The hand began when Moolhuizen three-bet to 250,000 holding A♦Q♦. Coelho, sitting in the small blind with A♥Q♥, shoved for 760,000. The initial raiser folded, and Moolhuizen made the call after a brief pause. With both players holding the same rank and suited combinations, the table expected the chips to come back evenly. That expectation evaporated when the flop landed J♦K♦5♣, giving Moolhuizen a flush draw and a chance at something special.
Moolhuizen jokingly asked for a Royal Flush, and in a moment of surreal poker magic, the dealer delivered the 10♦ on the turn. That card gave him an unbeatable Royal Flush—ace through ten of diamonds—ending the hand instantly. The river came the 8♠, sealing Coelho’s fate and sending him out of the tournament as Moolhuizen and the table reacted with disbelief.
Moments like this remind players how unpredictable live poker can be. The odds of two players being dealt the same suited ace-queen are extremely slim, and the chance of one of them hitting a Royal Flush in that spot is microscopic. For Coelho, it was an unlucky exit. For Moolhuizen, it was a memory that will likely follow him through every future tournament he plays—a story of how poker’s rarest hand arrived exactly when he called for it.
