The Solution to Chris Moneymaker's Poker Quiz

Here it is.  In my previous post I gave the poker brainteaser that Chris Moneymaker gave us when I played poker with him Thursday (man, it is still cool to say that!).  You can find that post here, but I'll reprint the question below.

"In a regular Hold-em game, you are ahead of a single opponent on the turn.  It's heads-up.   Yet, no matter what card hits the river, you cannot win outright.  You can either lose or chop.  What hand must you have, what hand must your opponent have and what must the board be for this to be the case?

I'm pretty sure that you have to assume no flush possible, otherwise it might not work."

The solution:

You have 7-2, your opponent has 6-5, and the board is 3-3-4-4.  At that moment, you both have two pair and your 7 is the better kicker.

But if you make a pair with either of your cards, your opponent has a straight, you lose.

Obviously if a 6 or 5 hits, your opponent has a better two pair, you lose.

A 3 or a 4 gives you both the same full house, you play the board, you split the pot.

Any 8 or bigger gives you both the same five cards, you play the board, and you split the pot.

There's no way you can win the pot outright, but your opponent can.

As soon as I post this, I will approve the comments with the other suggested answers I received.

Here's the thing, no one had that exact scenario, but at a casual glance, it appears that some of the other possibilities may also work.  But honestly, I'm having too much fun in Vegas right now to further analyze them to see if they really do work.  Is it possible that Chris Moneymaker missed a few other legitmate possibilities?  Hmm....

Go ahead and take a look at the other answers and see if they work.  If you see that they do or don't, go ahead and make a comment as to why it does or doesn't work, either on this post or in the previous post.

Hope you enjoyed this brain teaser, and thanks for playing.

And thanks to Chris Moneymaker for the question.  

I will do a post about my meeting Chris soon, I promise!

UPDATE: Because blogger put the comments in the order they were received, it's hard to find them all with the other comments that I approved at the time, because they weren't possible solutions.  Therefore, all the other scenarios I received are reprinted below, to make it easier to find them all and comment on!

Thanks so much to all who commented!

bill June 27, 2014 at 2:56 PM

I was going to say:

Me - 2,4
Opp - 2,2

Board - 3333

but then if the case 2 comes I would still win....so I dunno

Anonymous June 28, 2014 at 10:33 AM

I'll take a stab at this one. Have to use some questionable logic to give you the better hand.

You both have similar pocket cards, yours are connected his are suited. Your hand is the better hand due to domination. Flop gives both of you a straight draw. Turn completes the straight and pairs your kicker, and giving the villain a flush redraw.

You cannot win. On any card but a flush card, you chop with the straights and obviously your straight loses when the flush hits.

Anonymous June 28, 2014 at 8:57 PM

Ahead is 2-7, behind is 4-6. board is double paired 3355

 

Anonymous June 28, 2014 at 11:09 AM

Example hands for my wordy explanation:

H:JsTc
V:Jh8h

Flop:
AdKhQh

Turn:
Th

River:

Other hands can be constructed to fit the criteria.

Herb Wolfe June 28, 2014 at 4:46 PM

I've been running this through my head and even tried to use a deck of cards to figure it out, but couldn't quite get it, even though I was on the right track with either A2 vs A3 or 22 vs 23.

I ended up using google, and found it posted here

Anonymous June 28, 2014 at 8:46 PM

Ahead hand is 2-7, behind hand is 3-4. board is double paired 5566

arniejokin June 29, 2014 at 12:43 AM

Board is A 7 7 4. You are holding 2 6 and opponent is holding 5 3. No one has a flush draw. If you hit a 2 or 6 he makes a straight. 5 or 3 you have a pair. Any other card is a chop. 

Volker Thebrath June 29, 2014 at 5:56 AM

Don't know if my previous post got lost: So my solution is: Board is AAKK and I#m holding 32 and the opponent is holding 22. We will chop it with anything than a 2 and if a 2 is on the river, I will lose.

arniejokin June 29, 2014 at 10:08 AM

Correction,
Board is A 7 4 4. You are holding 2 6 and opponent is holding 5 3. No one has a flush draw. If you hit a 2 or 6 he makes a straight. 5 or 3 he makes a pair. Any other card is a chop.