Top 10 2005 WSOP hands

1. JENNIFER HARMAN VS CORY ZEIDMAN

Dealt pocket Queens, Harman gets involved in a pot with Cory Zeidman, who came 39th in the 2003 Main Event. The flop comes 10 -J -Q , giving Jen a set, but Zeidman, who holds 8 -9 , the made straight. Harman bets out 500, Zeidman raises to 2000, and Jen flat calls. The turn brings the 10 , giving Harman a full house. She checks and Zeidman bets out 1000, which she then raises to 3000. Zeidman agonises for a while, but makes the call, little knowing that he’s only 2% to win the hand. Unbelievably Zeidman hits his oneouter – the 7 – to make a straight flush! Jen puts him all-in and he even delays the call for added drama. Harman is mortified, crying out ‘Mamma Mia!’ as they flip the cards. Now that’s a bad beat.

Jen’s pocket Queens against Zeidman’s suited connectors make Harman nearly an 80% favourite to win the hand. Zeidman flops the low straight which makes him a 62% favourite to win the hand, although Jen has a set of Queens. The 10 gives Harman the full house and makes her a 98% favourite. You know what happens next…

2. SAM FARHA VS OLIVER HUDSON

Goldie Hawn’s son, Oliver, busted out on the very first hand of the Main Event last year against top pro Sam Farha. Both players flop a full house, but Farha has the bigger one with A-10 to Hudson’s 10-10 on a board of A-A-10. Both check, and when Hudson bets out on the turn, Farha raises, only for Hudson to push all-in and Farha to call in an instant. $10,000 gone in 90 seconds – gutted!

3. JOE HACHEM VS STEVE DANNENMANN

Heads-up and with Joe Hachem in a commanding chip lead, Dannenmann’s small raise with A-3 pre-flop isn’t enough to make Joe fold the abysmal-looking 7-3 off-suit. The Aussie then gets a miracle flop when 4-5-6 gives him the made straight. He slow-plays it and when an Ace comes on the turn, giving Dannenmann top pair, all the chips go in and Joe becomes 2005 World Champion.

4. JOHNNY CHAN VS PHIL LAAK

Chan became the first player to hold 10 WSOP bracelets when he beat Phil Laak in last year’s $2,500 pot-limit Hold’em. Chan has Laak’s stack covered almost 4/1 when he’s dealt Q-Q. Laak raises from the button. Chan then raises just enough to invite Laak to push all-in, which he does with K-J. No King appears on the board and Chan claims $303,025 and his place in the record books.

5. PHIL HELLMUTH VS FRANK PASSANTINO

Hellmuth’s A-K is up against Frank Passantino’s A-A on the first day of the Main Event. The flop comes 4-4-A; both players check. The turn is a Queen, and Passantino bets out 10,000, to which Phil says, ‘Why so big?’ He chats to Passantino to get a read and when he realises he’s up against a full house, Phil folds, flipping his A-K. Passantino shows the Aces, and Phil shouts, ‘I can dodge bullets!’

6. MIKE MATUSOW VS SCOTT LAZAR

On the second hand of last year’s Main Event fi nal table Matusow pushes all-in with pocket Kings, after Lazar has raised him with pocket Aces. The Mouth, resigned to losing half his stack, leaps out of his seat when a King hits the flop. But Lazar hits runner-runner for a flush. A vital hand because Matusow would’ve been a big chip leader and favourite. Instead ‘The Mouth’ busted out shortly after.

7. ANDREW BLACK VS PHIL IVEY

Last year’s Main Event witnessed one of the best bluffi ng contests in WSOP history. With the blinds at 20k-40k Phil Ivey raises to 140k. Andrew Black re-raises to 420k. Ivey doubles the bet to 920k, and Black pushes all-in, so that Ivey is forced to fold. What amazing clash of hands brought on this action? Kings vs Aces? No. Ivey had K-5 suited and Black A-2 suited. Unbelievable stuff.

8. DOYLE BRUNSON VS MINH LY

Hall of Famer Doyle ‘Texas Dolly’ Brunson scored his 10th bracelet in the $5,000 short-handed nolimit Hold’em event. Showing his usual aggressive approach to fi nishing off opponents, Brunson pushes Minh Ly all-in with 10-3 when the man from Vietnam tries to limp in with K-Q off-suit. Brunson gets lucky hitting a Three to go level pegging with Johnny Chan in the bracelet department.

9. GREG RAYMER VS AARON KANTER

Defending champion Raymer was well on his way to following in the footsteps of Brunson, Chan and Ungar in winning back-to-back Main Events. Unfortunately he hadn’t accounted for the luck of Aaron Kanter. Raymer used pocket Kings to devastating effect to get all of Kanter’s chips in the middle only for Kanter’s K-J to make a flush on the river. Raymer crashed out three hands later.

10. STEVE DANNENMANN VS HOWARD LEDERER

Main Event runner-up Steve Dannenmann’s introduction to the poker world was when he was caught on TV bragging to a mate on his mobile about his huge bluff against pro Howard Lederer. The novice moved all-in with 8-6 on a K-Q-J board when Lederer held A-J. With only nine players left until the bubble, Lederer folded, not wanting to risk his entire tournament in this spot.

Best of the rest…

In compiling a list of the best hands during last year’s WSOP it was obviously going to be biased towards the Main Event, being as it featured the biggest players and the infamous showdowns that the TV cameras picked up. But whether it was an amazing twist of fate (Harman vs Zeidman), a great laydown (Hellmuth) or an incredible clash of two players at the top of their game (Ivey vs Black) you won’t see many better or exciting hands than these.

And, of course, there are the hands which made history, like Hachem’s killer blow with 7-3, and Chan and Brunson’s hands which catapulted both of them to the top of the bracelet winners list.

But for pure comedy you can’t beat the Farha vs Hudson hand. Pray to God, if you’re playing in the Main Event this year, it doesn’t happen to you.

However, if you are in Vegas for the Big One and find yourself sat at a table where an amazing hand develops log it in the memory bank and email us with the details.