Always raise those suited no-gaps

In the poker world, it’s common for the winner of a big tournament to pose for pictures while sitting behind a giant mound of chips (or cash). Often the photo op will include the winning hand, either proudly displayed by the winner or propped up in front of the chips.

So this quick snapshot I took of a magazine cover is pretty standard stuff, really:

Except… take a closer look at that “winning hand.” You may want to go ahead and click on the image to get the full sized view. I do apologize for the crappy cell phone snap, but it’s all I had available at the time.

Do you see it? That’s right, Johnny Scruffbeard there apparently won a sizable Texas Hold’em tournament with suited nines in the hole. Just in case you didn’t know, Hold’em is played with a standard 52 card deck, which does not include two nine of spades. At least, it sure shouldn’t.  It’s not unheard of for a bum deck to get into play, even at the highest levels of tournament poker. But when that happens, it is generally discovered rather quickly, and any action that took place with that deck is voided (if possible) and play will resume with a new deck.

So, I’m thinking this is a stupid Photoshop mishap. But the fact that such a stupid mistake could not only be made, but would make the cover of an actual magazine is mind boggling. I mean, I would think that somebody at this here poker rag actually knew enough about poker to know you can’t have suited nines wired. But perhaps I expect too much?