The enormous variety of poker hands that can be played during a deal is one of the main reasons poker is such a beloved card game. Given that the players with the greatest hands don’t always win, the possibility that someone could bluff their way to victory makes the game even more thrilling.
Plenty of poker players have made history for the hands they play, making it an exciting story to know or one which you can learn something from.
Doyle Brunson
In 1976, the World Series of Poker was just in its seventh year, yet it had one of the most iconic hands in history. Doyle Brunson was heads-up against Jesse Alto in the Main Event when he raised with ten-deuce of spades while Alto held an unsuited ace-jack.
Alto bet the value of the pot after an ace-jack-ten board, and Brunson went all in. On the turn, his card was improved but still the second best two pair, but another ten on the river gave him a full house poker hand, the victory, and $220,000 in prize money.
The following year, Brunson faced Bones Berland heads-up in the WSOP Main Event. In a limped pot, both players checked with a ten-eight-five flop. The turn was a deuce where Brunson bet, Berland raised all in, and Brunson called. Brunson improved to a full house on the river, winning $340,000 and back-to-back WSOP Main Event championships.
Amazingly, Brunson came close to winning three WSOP bracelets with his ten-deuce hand, but he lost out in 2005 when he took home his 10th with ten-three.
Estelle Denis
Estelle Denis lost focus when playing at the 2009 World Series of Poker. She didn’t see her cards as the dealer gathered them into the discard pile. Although the dealer should have been more cautious, the players must always protect their cards when playing poker.
Denis pushed in her final $142,000 in chips after her opponent had just placed a $32,000 wager. She alerted the dealer when she saw that her cards had been swiped up, and the floor manager was instructed to remove her cards from the top of the stack. She responded that she had two aces when asked to describe her hand.
However, since the cards had already been shuffled into the muck when removed, they didn’t match. As a result, Denis’ hand was deemed “dead,” and she had to place $32,000 chips in the middle to match her opponent’s raise.
Dario Sammartino
When there were only 11 players left in the 2019 WSOP Main Event, Dario Sammartino and Nick Marchington engaged in this controversial poker hand. Sammartino opened with pocket tens, which started the poker hand that generated a lot of discussion in the poker community.
Marchington raised after going all-in with pocket Queens. Sammartino then requested the chip count, which the dealer stated was 17 million. After setting his stack of chips, Sammartino made a call. However, another participant noticed that Marchington was all-in for 22.5 million and informed the table of the error.
Sammartino didn’t say anything while the cards were still hidden; however, after the hands were tabled and he saw he was up against pocket Queens, he argued that he shouldn’t have to call a bet after being given a false count. The WSOP Vice President declared that the hand would need to be played out under WSOP rules; hence the call stands.
Chris Moneymaker, “Bluff of the Century”
When it came to heads-up play in the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, all eyes were on Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker was competing against seasoned player Sammy Farha for a $2.5 million prize.
Moneymaker went on to defeat Farha to demonstrate that even the best poker players can be defeated with a little bit of luck. However, things may have turned out differently if the following “bluff of the century” had failed.
Farha held Q-Spades, 9-Hearts for the top pair on a flop of 9-Spades 2-Diamonds 6-Spades, while Moneymaker held K-Spades 7-Hearts for just king-high and a backdoor flush draw. Moneymaker checked behind Farha as well. The 8-Spades turn added interest because it gave Moneymaker poker combinations of king-high flush and an open-ended straight draw.
Farha opened with 300,000, but Moneymaker raised the bet to 800,000. The dealer dealt the 3-Hearts onto the river after Farha made a call. Despite missing his draws, Moneymaker moved all in and Farha folded.
Ivan Freitez
In poker, a call or raise choice is always final. Games would descend into chaos if players changed their decisions. Ivan Freitez is aware of this rule but ignored it at Madrid’s 2011 European Poker Tournament Grand Final.
When Freitez announced a raise over his opponent’s river bet while holding full house cards, he then declared that his only intention had been to call and place the calling chips. Even though he knew he couldn’t change his mind and would have to make the raise, Freitez used an angle shoot to make his opponent think he had a weak hand so he could get a little extra value on the river.
The tournament director was asked to rule, and Freitez had to uphold his earlier judgment to raise. The tournament director reminded the opponent that this was a well-known Freitez move that often indicated he was holding the nuts because Freitez had pulled this stunt before with strong hands.
Conclusion
Poker has always had disputed hands, regardless of the stakes or players; this is not about to change. After all, it’s a very emotional game, and money is frequently involved.
Combining these two factors with occasionally ambiguous guidelines makes it nearly impossible to steer clear of controversy. Several of these scenarios can teach you important things if you play frequently. You can use them to help you in your poker strategies or to be vigilant about what is happening on the table to avoid mistakes when you play {{Texas Holdem online}} or live or any poker variants.