A poker hand went viral on Twitter last week. The online poker community has been fervently discussing Kym Lim folding quad Queens in a $20/$40/$80 No limit Hold’em cash game.
Who Is Kym Lim?
Kym Lim is a professional live cash game player from Vancouver, Canada. She appeared on a stream of Live at the Bike in September 2017. She’s also played live cash NLHE in a Halloween episode of Poker Night of America.
She’s not a big tournament grinder, however. Her Hendon profile only shows a single cash for $2,381 from a C$700 event in 2013.
However, she has a sizeable audience on social media. As of date, she has 5,319 followers on Twitter and 4,939 followers on Instagram.
The Breakdown of Kym Lim Folding Quads
Here’s the hand: $20/40/80NL. Reg opens EP to $200, I flat next to act with QQ, 🐳 flats in pos. Flop AdQdQx, checks around. Turn 8d checks around. River Td. Reg bets $200, I make it $1500, 🐳 folds. Reg makes it $6800. I make it $21k. He shoves for $42k more. I fold.
— Kym Lim (@KymLim86) December 23, 2019
In that hand history, we can see Kym Lim taking the passive line multiple times on earlier streets.
She doesn’t 3-bet her pocket Queens pre-flop. She checks her quads on the flop. The hero also checks on the turn, even after no bets were made on the flop.
Lim had the literal nuts on the flop and the turn. That changed on the river, however, when the Td fell.
At that point, Kym Lim loses to KdJd, which makes a Royal Flush; as well as Jd9d, which makes a straight flush – two combinations of hands in total. She eventually lays down her four of a kind after a 5-bet shove from the reg for $42,000 (525 BB’s) more.
Kym Lim explained her thought process in a follow-up tweet shortly after:
I raised to $21k to get value from AA and sometimes TT. But if my opponent is never overvaluing AA full when he 5b shoves then what do I beat? A bluff. And if he decides to 5b bluff me with Jd then good for him. He deserves the pot bc what a sicko play.
— Kym Lim (@KymLim86) December 23, 2019
The Reaction
Folding quads evidently caught the attention of many famous poker pros, who responded online.
Jonathan Little made an entire video dedicated to this hand on his YouTube channel.
In it, he had this to say:
“My initial thoughts were, well, if you’re folding the second or third nuts, maybe you messed up somewhere along the line”.
Little criticized Kym Lim for checking the turn. However, he later went on to justify her fold on the river, saying:
“At this point, given the way this hand’s played out, I actually think this is probably gonna be a fold against most players. I’m not gonna say ALL players, but most players. (…)
If the reg is someone who is just kind of a, as my friends refer to him, a placeholder, a player who’s just kind of there playing straight up, not doing anything absurd. At that point, I think it’s actually an easy fold.”
Other famous poker players have replied as well, including Doug Polk.
No one has to live in fear of this happening any longer 👍
We can return to our normal programming of folding kings preflop and sets facing aggression https://t.co/Sahfd93mi5
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkPoker) December 23, 2019
Marle Cordeiro also chimed in. She expressed her disapproval of random, inexperienced players aggressively criticizing Kym Lim on the internet. She also went on to claim that she believes the hand was “however you look at it, a cooler”, and that the fold was justified since Lim had a history of playing with the villain.
People at home worrying about this hand or messaging Kym about it are out to lunch. However you look at it, it’s a cooler. She was in big hand and made a fold she knows isn’t “standard” cuz she had history w the guy and has played a lot of this stake.
— Marle Cordeiro (@MarleCordeiro) December 23, 2019
Other Famous Big Folds in Poker
Unfortunately, Kym Lim folding her quad Queens is not on camera.
However, in January 2019, Thi Xoa Nguyen was recorded mucking her full house on the river in the $25K NLHE Players Championship at last year’s PCA.
She folded Queens full of Aces face up. In turn, her opponent showed his hand – Aces full of Queens…
Earn up to 60% partypoker rakeback when signing up through us!
When signing up through VIP-Grinders.com on partypoker, you can now earn up to 60% cashback on partypoker plus take part in the following exclusive VIP-Grinders Promotions with massive extra value:
- $30 Welcome Bonus in SPINS Tickets
- Up to 60% Cashback via the Diamond Elite Club
- 4 x $250 Private Poker Freeroll per month
- Exclusive Party & Bwin Chase
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org
