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WSOP regular poker hands |
 Judah still believed that Stu was on a draw. Or he might have fancied that Stu was bluffing. |
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As you guess Vincent checked too because it was he who really had nothing. |
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So sang Nick Frangos, the hometown hero at the World Series of Poker Texas Hold’em event at Atlantic City, NJ. This was the first WSOP circuit event to be held outside of Las Vegas, and Frangos was happy to have everyone playing in his backyard for a change. |
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In a prime example of how fate can ruin the best-laid poker plans, no matter the seasoning of the player, newcomer Henry Tran faced popular Chris “Jesus” Ferguson at the Texas Hold’em final table at Atlantic City, NJ in the first WSOP circuit event not held in Las Vegas. |
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During the 2003 World Series of Poker there were many great plays, some of which took place one day Two of the Main Event. One of the greatest No Limit Texas Hold’em players in the world is TJ Cloutier. TJ had been at the World Series of Poker every year for 20 years, yet had never won the main event. In this classic hand TJ showed that even for the great ones like himself, it is imperative for a professional poker player to always keep frustration under control. |
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It was the final table at the World Series of Poker’s Atlantic City circuit event, and Mimi Tran was playing tight. As usual for the final table, the game was No-Limit Texas Hold’em, and Tran had stayed out of the majority of pots, seeking the right hand to make an aggressive move. |
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The World Series of Poker is where the best of the best come to play, and during the 2003 main event there was no exception. Among the pros sitting at the featured table on Day Three was Paul Darden, a man who went by the nickname "The Truth." Paul had shown his mettle by taking on Howard Lederer in a battle of psychology and had been coming out on top. You would think in this situation Paul would be getting a little cocky, but instead he seemed to grow more humble. |
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Ferguson, chalking it up to the vagaries of fate, recognized that he would have won had he stuck around with a 6-high straight. |
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With two powerful starting hands, two players at Harrah’s Rincon Casino vie to stay in the 2005 WSOP circuit event. |
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Both are good starting hands in this Texas Hold’em event. Lindgren felt good about his chances and raised to 40,000 chips. |
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At the Atlantic City, NJ WSOP circuit event, announcer Norman Chad commented his entire family would have gone broke calling with pocket queens; but hometown player Nick Frangos showed professional restraint at the table. |
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The town was Atlantic City, the casino was Harrah’s, and the final two players of the first WSOP circuit event to be held outside of Las Vegas were facing each other across the green felt of the final table. |
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Examining how poker hands are played gives great insight not only into how particular card combinations should be played, but also into the mind of the people playing them. |
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At Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Casino in Nevada, the World Series of Poker circuit event had reached the final table, and nine players faced each other in the traditional game of No-Limit Texas Hold’em. |
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When the World Series of Poker settles home to roost in Las Vegas for the final round of events, big hopes and dreams show up with pockets full of cash, with amateurs and pros alike hoping for a coveted WSOP bracelet, a big prize, and the recognition of their peers. |
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In one of the final World Series of Poker events of 2005, the $1,500 buy in No-Limit Texas Hold’em final table was underway. It is becoming commonplace to see old hand pros mixing with young amateurs, many of whom cut their teeth on Internet poker rooms before braving a live game at a casino. |
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The 2005 World Series of Poker’s pot limit Texas Hold’em final table held a nice mix of newcomers to the game, seasoned players, and old pros... |
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It has been said that some people have a problem pulling the trigger. Playing with the chip lead, having a run of good cards, and facing a choice of playing tight or pushing your opponent all in and taking a shot at busting him out and winning the game, many players let fear stand in the way of the win. In the 2005 $5,000 buy in Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker, former stock broker Dan Shmieck didn’t have this problem. |
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The time had come: it was the last hand of the final table in the 2005 World Series of Poker $2,500 buy in, No-Limit Texas Hold’em event. |
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Even when you draw one of the best possible hands in poker, it is still very important to watch your opponent. |
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One of the more popular of poker stories is the “bad beat.” A bad beat story is when a player has all the cards, has played the right strategy, is in the best position, and gets his legs cut out from under him when his opponent draws a lucky card. |
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Poker is often a game of “two steps forward and one step back,” with progress impeded by frequent losses; if you are skilled or lucky (and preferably both) your wins outstrip your losses. |
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On an exciting night in the World Series of Poker, four tournaments were playing simultaneously, including one where nine-time bracelet winner Johnny Chan was vying for his tenth bracelet. |
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Sometimes even the pros misread a player; it probably happens more often than one would think, but the key reason these players are pros and making oodles of money playing poker in spite of misreads, is that misreads often happen to protect their stack. |
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The 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event was underway, day one, and the feature table was showing a lot of action. The Flying Dutchman, Marcel Luske, was out off uniform, opting for a polo shirt instead of a suit, but his card playng skills were present as he was making great decisions all over the place. |
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On Day One of the 2005 World Series of Poker’s main event, the feature table was well chosen. Marcel Luske, known as “The Flying Dutchman,” is one of the bigger characters who play the game of poker. |
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It would be hard to say with a straight face that you hate to look down at your starting hand in No Limit Texas Hold ’Em and see that it is something like pocket kings. If Nick Mao, an amateur player at the final table of the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit Championship in New Orleans could have looked forward in time, he would’ve run screaming when it happened to him. |
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Regardless of their individual poker strategy or philosophy, nearly anyone would tell you that the game of No Limit Texas Hold’em is a game of aggression. All things being equal, it is the aggressive player who wins the pot most of the time. At the final table of the Championship Circuit Event in New Orleans during the 2005 World Series of Poker, Antonio Esfandiari, The Magician, showed why this adage is true. |
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On day one of the 2005 World Series of Poker the featured table held a lot of men chasing a dream or two, including one Nick Morris. Nick had vowed twenty years ago that one day he would make it to the WSOP, and today was the day one of his dreams came true. |
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It just has to be intimidating playing in the final events at the World Series of Poker, especially if you are a newcomer to the game. So many players today are winning seats that would never have put up the $10,000 to enter on their own, or made the trip to Las Vegas. |
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Sometimes you don’t even have to be in a hand to be playing the game of poker. Poker is about a lot of things, including making right decisions and reading people. Both of these things require information, much of which you can get simply by watching other people play the game. And the 2003 World Series of Poker Main event, on day two, at the final table, Phil Hellmuth played poker without being in the hand. |
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The 2003 World Series of Poker is known as one of the seminal poker events that shaped the current state of poker fever the grips the globe. However, while the pivotal events took place at the final table as Chris Moneymaker took the championship, there were plenty of other good hands to watch and learn from. On day Two of the main event rivals Sam Grizzle and Phil Hellmuth faced off in a few classic hands were Sam taught a lesson in long-term needling. |
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Nearing the end of Day Two during the 2003 World Series of Poker Main event adversaries Sam Grizzle and Phil Hellmuth were still at each other’s throats. The two professional poker players, who had literally come to blows in the previous years tournament, continually followed each other into practically every hand at the table. The major difference being where Phil kept adding to his stack, Sam kept losing and was nearly done. |
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On Day Three of the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event, professional poker players Paul Darden and Howard Lederer began a battle of psychological warfare that continued over the course of the day. Paul, the unknown between the two, took the battle to Howard with a number of excellent plays. |
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There are a few professional poker players that have the presence of the Professor as Howard Lederer is known. Having a family member as a pro poker player only adds to Howard’s aura, and his sister, Annie Duke, was only sitting a few tables away. It was the featured table on Day Three of the 2003 World Series of Poker and Howard had been taking a beating by fellow professional Paul "The Truth" Darden. But he was far from out of the game in this next hand showed. Four players went into the hands and ironically the only player whose pocket cards remain hidden were Howard’s. |
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Nearly anyone who pays attention to poker is familiar with the story of Chris Moneymaker. The former accountant and amateur poker player who won his way into the 2003 World Series of Poker with a $40 online satellite is partially responsible for the current poker fever gripping the world today. On Day Three of the 2003 World Series of Poker Main event, however, he was still just an amateur poker player. |
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Sitting at the final table in New Orleans at the 2005 World Series of Poker circuit event, The Magician, Antonio Esfandiari, continue to show why he was one of the top poker pros in the world. As the only professional poker player at the table, Antonio was under a lot of pressure, although you wouldn’t have known it to look at him. All of the other players showed him respect, but wanted to be the ones that would bust him out. |
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Sometimes it takes a moment to sink in that you’re no longer in the running for a poker championship. In New Orleans, during a 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit Event championship, one amateur player thought for sure he had won the day; but it wasn’t to be so. |
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The final table of the Main Event of the 2005 World Series of Poker started with a bang. The very first hand had not one, not two, but three players with starting hand that are considered prime, and community cards that followed them just made things more interesting... |
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It was bound to happen. Poker is too much a game of extremes, especially when you are dealing with No Limit Texas Hold’em poker, for someone not to crack. The big money was on Mike “The Mouth” Matusow, but, despite being eliminated from the 2005 World Series of Poker’s main event in ninth place, the first from the final table, he took it all in a very un-Matusow like way. |
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When Black was making his decision pre flop as to call or fold against Brad’s big all-in move, he knew the chip counts. He knew it would only cost him about 10 % of his own chip stack to knock out Brad, and if he lost it wasn’t catastrophic... |
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The argument these days about poker stems around the question of whether or not it is a game of skill, or if it is solely a game of chance. Anyone who has played more than a few hands will come down pretty solidly on the side of skill, but none can gainsay that luck plays a factor; sometimes a very weighty factor indeed. |
 The blinds were up to $3,000 and $6,000 in tourney chips at the featured table during the main event of the 2007 WSOP, and there was a $1,000 ante. 22 year old Hevad Khan, known as "RainKhan" online, was up and down at the table, likely due in part to the large quantity of energy drinks he was consuming. |
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During the championship event for the Limit Hold’em game in the 2004 World Series of Poker, there were a few memorable moments, many of which centered around one Ellix Powers, a formerly homeless man who made his way back from the streets with his skill at poker. |
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It was the main event of the 2004 World Series of Poker and there were only 19 players left from a field of over two thousand. Two players needed to be eliminated to get the group down to the final two tables, and tensions were high with some players. |
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In the 2004 World Series of Poker Limit championship, a former homeless man schooled the table on a spirited method of playing poker, one that left many a player on tilt and other laughing at his antics. |
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It was the 2004 World Series of Poker, and one of the most character filled events was nearing its end. At the Limit Hold’em championship’s final table T.J. Cloutier was the short stack and fighting for his life in a game he was known to master. |
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It is not Kosher to talk about your hands in a tournament event, especially one as prestigious and high profile as the World Series of Poker. |
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In the previous hand involving Ellix Powers at the 2004 World Series of Poker’s Limit Hold’em championship, the final table player had incised poker author Jim McManus by betting in the dark. |
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During the final table of the 2004 World Series of Poker Limit Hold’em championship game, there were two players at the table that wanted to bust each other out almost more than they wanted to win. |
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The 2005 World Series of Poker had many events, but few had as colorful a final table as the Limit Texas Hold’em event, with poker author Jim McManus mixing it up with formerly homeless and currently poker pro Ellix Powers, and other watching in varying degrees of amusement or distress. |
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Patti Gallagher had done a lot at the final table of the Limit Event in the 2005 World Series of Poker. In addition to making it all the way to the final table, she battled it out and played smart, surviving the dearth of good cards, and managed to make it to a three player game. |
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One of the bigger characters at the 2005 World Series of Poker Limit Hold’em event’s final table was fairly overshadowed for much of the game. “Machinegun Patti,” given that name after miming blowing away her competition with an imaginary Tommy Gun, sat mostly quiet while Ellix Powers dominated the attention of the table. |
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There were only two players left in the 2004 World Series of Poker’s Limit Hold’em final table, and the winner of the event would be taking home almost double the second place finisher. Johnny “World” Hennigan and An Tran were close in chips, with World ahead. |
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It was the fourth hand in the opening stages of the 2003 World Series of Poker, the one that would eventually crown Chris Moneymaker a world champion and kick off a firestorm of poker popularity. At this table the former champion, Robert Varkoni, had won the first three hands with measured skill and a bit of luck, but he stayed out of this hand. |
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The 2004 World Series of Poker’s Limit Texas Hold’em game had been an up and down ride for Machine Gun Patti. Patti Gallagher had managed to stay out of the way of most of the players at the final table of the event, jumping in here and there but mostly allowing them to eliminate themselves. |
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David Chiu has three World Series of Poker gold bracelets, signifying three first place wins in various events over the years; no small accomplishment. He sat among the final five from a huge field of Limit Hold’em players that were all trying for a bracelet of their own in the 2005 WSOP Limit event. |
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Each final table has its own spirit and character, depending on the makeup of the characters seated around it. Many times games are played in cold silence, broken by the shouts when a lucky card saves a player’s tournament life, or shouts when it doesn’t. |
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It was Moment Of Truth time for An Tran. The setting was the casino floor where the 2004 World Series of Poker was taking place, specifically the final table for the Limit Texas Hold’em event. |
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Two hands in a row the 2002 World Series of Poker champion Robert Varkoni had drawn pocket aces as starting cards, a super lucky turn of events. It was the featured table at the start of the 2003 WSOP main event. He won both hands, although he might have won more if he played them a bit more aggressively. |
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It was the 2003 World Series of Poker, and Doyle Brunson was seated at the featured table in the opening rounds of the main event, which at the time was the world’s biggest prize pool for any sport or similar tournament, standing at $2.5 million. Robert Varkonyi, the champion from the previous year, was at the table and for the first time engaged Brunson in a pot, along with the only other man at the table to show much life, Roy Zimmerman. |
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In the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker’s No Limit Hold’em event, former world champion Robert Varkoni looked down and saw two aces in his hands. Starting with Bullets, as they are called, is a 222 to 1 against chance, and amazingly enough this was the second time, in a row, that he had started with Aces, and it was in the first two hands of the event. |
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In 2002 a nobody, as far as the pro poker world knew, named Robert Varkonyi won the World Series of Poker. The next year he was back in the mix, sitting at the featured table in the 2003 main event with poker legened Doyle Brunson. |
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If it has been said once it has been said a thousand times; No Limit Texas Hold’em is a game of aggression. Because of the nature of the game a sure sign of strength often leads to a rash of folding hands around a table, with the aggressor winning the pot, even if he held the worst hand. |
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Having Robert Varkonyi and Scotty Nguyen at the same table in a game of No Limit Texas Hold’em is sort of like having a wolf and a sheep playing a game of tag; sooner or later the sheep is going to get eaten. Sometimes, however, the sheep can squeeze in a lucky sucker punch before dinner time. During the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker, that’s about what happened. |
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In the opening stages of the 2003 World Series of Poker, back when Chris Moneymaker was just a guy they poked fun at because of his name and profession (he was an accountant before he was a World Series of Poker champion), the feature table at the main event held not only the previous year’s champion and the ledged Doyle Brunson, but heavy hitter Padraig Parkinson as well. When Parkinson matched up against Yoshio Nakano one of them was going to the rail, and it was a bitter loss when it came. |
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Does having the big bucks of a legendary professional poker player give you a different perspective when you are in a poker tournament? It sure seemed that way in the 2003 World Series of Poker main event day one, when two time main event winner Doyle Brunson, the center piece of the feature table, made some risky moves. |
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Two hands prior the 2002 World Series of Poker champion Robert Varkonyi had loosed a massive bluff against smooth and sharp professional poker player Scotty Nguyen, and gotten away with murder. This hand Scotty was going to deal out a little pay back thanks to a fortunate deal. It was the feature table on day one of the main event at the 2003 World Series of Poker, and a classic match up that always seems to end in heartbreak; pocket kings versus pocket aces. |
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It’s important when playing no limit hold’em, or any poker game for that matter, to keep your personal feelings in check. Two professional poker players who had to work on this aspect of play a bit harder than the rest were nine time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth and the adversarial Sam Grizzle. |
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It was the 2003 World Series of Poker’s main event, the second day, and Phil Hellmuth was not doing very well. He wasn’t the shortest stack in the room by far, but he certainly wasn’t the largest. Sitting at his table was his old nemesis Sam Gizzle, who was keeping him on tilt. |
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During the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit Championship in New Orleans, Antonio Esfandiari stood alone at a final table filled with amateur players. Among them were Nick Mao, Sid Gittins, and Corey Bierria, three amateur players showing that they had enough professional skills to make it this far in a circuit event. |
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