One unlucky poker player has already exited this year’s WSOP Main Event after running into a brutal river card against Nick Rigby, who used half of his famous “dirty diaper” hand to great effect to score the knockout.
On Day 1b of poker’s $10,000 World Championship, Nikolaos Angelou moved all-in against Rigby for his tournament life, only to find the Pittsburgh native was all too happy to gamble.
Rigby didn’t have his signature deuce-three off this time, but his 3♠ proved enough to push a big pot his way, sending Angelou to the rail on a cruel runout amid shock and laughter from the rest of the table.
Check out the hand below:
Half a “Dirty Diaper” Enough For Rigby
The action picked up on stream after Rigby, on the button, raised to 2,000 from a stack of 63,800, before Angelou in the big blind moved all in for his remaining 15,800. Rigby could be heard saying, “I’ll gamble it,” before sliding in around a quarter of his stack to make the call.
Angelou revealed J♦J♣, leaving him a big favourite for a double-up, while Rigby tabled K♠3♠ to back up those gambling words.
The 5♠10♦3♦ flop kept Angelou firmly ahead, although Rigby picked up extra outs with the two remaining threes in the deck. The 9♣ on the turn changed little, leaving Angelou needing to fade five outs on the river to survive.
Of course, the 3♥ landed on the river, giving Rigby trips and sending Angelou to the rail. Players around the table reacted immediately, with shouts of “wow” and “oh my God” as the Greek player gathered his belongings and exited the tournament area.
The Origins of the “Dirty Diaper”
Rigby shot to prominence in the 2021 WSOP Main Event after repeatedly playing deuce-three offsuit deep into the tournament, a holding he nicknamed the “Dirty Diaper” in Pittsburgh home games and brought to the biggest tournament in poker.
Speaking to PokerNews’ Connor Richards in 2023, Rigby explained how the nickname developed back home in Pennsylvania, saying, “We just always referred to it as the Diaper, so I just kind of ran with it.”
Rather than treating it as a gimmick, Rigby added, “A lot of players are going to play it more passive. They can sit there using their charts all they want, they don’t know how to play poker. At the end of the day it’s a feel game, it’s all about reading other players, putting them in uncomfortable spots, playing position.”
That creative approach helped fuel a deep 2021 run that ended with a 52nd-place finish for $136,100, and if early signs are anything to go by, Rigby hasn’t changed one bit five years on.
Eliot Thomas
Editor, Poker & Casino