Worst played hands at WSOP ME Final Table (post-Moneymaker era)
Bunch of hands out there, as play was pretty bad before the mid 2010s.
But two hands in particular are hilarious.
2007 final table: Lee Childs with QQ open raises to 720K. Jerry Yang with JJ 3-bets to 2.5M. Childs flat calls. Flop is 742 with two clubs. Childs bets 3M and Yang pushes all-in. After agonizing and talking to his dad on the rails (WTF), he folds.
2008 final table: Dennis Phillips limps in early position to 300K with AK offsuit (LOL). Ivan Demidov with AQ suited raises to 1.025M. Phillips raises to 3.525M. Demidov raises to 8.225M. Phillips out of position flat calls.
Flop is JT8 rainbow. Phillips bets 4.5M. Demidov pushes all in, and Phillips folds.
23 Replies
it starts and ends with the legend of Scott Lazar turbo punts.
"I'LL GIVE YOU GAMBLE...OH GEES"
Bunch of hands out there, as play was pretty bad before the mid 2010s.
But two hands in particular are hilarious.
2007 final table: Lee Childs with QQ open raises to 720K. Jerry Yang with JJ 3-bets to 2.5M. Childs flat calls. Flop is 742 with two clubs. Childs bets 3M and Yang pushes all-in. After agonizing and talking to his dad on the rails (WTF), he folds.
2008 final table: Dennis Phillips limps in early position to 300K with AK offsuit (LOL). Ivan Demidov with AQ suited raises to 1.025M. Phill
To be fair as played, both of their hands should be about dead to a Q. Even as reckless as yang was--it's pretty clear yang thinks he has the nuts which QQ doesn't feel good against a 3b then I have the nuts on the flop range back then. If I remember right, both of these hands had very high ICM suicide potential. If they were beat you wouldn't be posting those hands here.
Lazar did punt, just needed one to hit though.
Some of the worst played hands they got away with it or won because of it just how it goes.
Philip hilms hand against Yang was much worse than childs which only the flop lead is terrible. Think Phillip defended like 8x raise pre with 85 suited them stacked off? Maybe I'm misremembering.
Demidov hand is terrible but it worked somehow.
Lazar is bad but I assume he didn't have that many chips
Philip hilms hand against Yang was much worse than childs which only the flop lead is terrible. Think Phillip defended like 8x raise pre with 85 suited them stacked off? Maybe I'm misremembering.
Demidov hand is terrible but it worked somehow.
Lazar is bad but I assume he didn't have that many chips
I had to go back in look. The hand before busting BB is 160k and Lazar has K9s in the SB, raises to 500k, Hachem with 15-16bb pushes AQ and Lazar calls and loses. You can still see Joe stacking chips so its pretty much the next hand. Lazar raises 350k, Black pushes all in, and with 16bb calls off with QTo beats Black into the pot and looks gross when he sees the hand. He blamed it all on folding A5o to a raise and a call which would have turned quads.
The Hilms one was two hands in a row. Yang made it 2.5m 1(BB was 240k) with 88, Hilm calls with KQo. Flop was 8AT rainbow, Yang makes it 3m, Hilm calls, blank on turn and Yang pushes, Hilm folds. Then the next hand was the 85s where Yang "only" made it 1m preflop and tried to get Yang to fold on the turn with his pair and flush draw when Yang had AK and hit his King on the flop. I remember having the ESPN PPV for it and it was like 20 hands Yang blasted through Childs, Hilm, and Watkinson.
The Yang vs Watkinson A9o v A7o, Lee had like 35bb and tried to push him off. After that punt the FT was on lock down, everyone but Yang was playing for 2nd and laddering.
I had to go back in look. The hand before busting BB is 160k and Lazar has K9s in the SB, raises to 500k, Hachem with 15-16bb pushes AQ and Lazar calls and loses. You can still see Joe stacking chips so its pretty much the next hand. Lazar raises 350k, Black pushes all in, and with 16bb calls off with QTo beats Black into the pot and looks gross when he sees the hand. He blamed it all on folding A5o to a raise and a call which would have turned quads.
The Hilms one was two hands in a row.
Someone like Jamie Gold or Jerry Yang can never win the Main Event now. The level of play has gotten too good.
My favorite is the guy who lost HU to Scotty Ngueyn when he called for his tournament life while playing the board. What in the world was he thinking?
To be fair as played, both of their hands should be about dead to a Q. Even as reckless as yang was--it's pretty clear yang thinks he has the nuts which QQ doesn't feel good against a 3b then I have the nuts on the flop range back then. If I remember right, both of these hands had very high ICM suicide potential. If they were beat you wouldn't be posting those hands here.
Lazar did punt, just needed one to hit though.
Some of the worst played hands they got away with it or won because of it
Nobody would criticize Childs if Yang happened to have AA or KK. He was playing like a savage.
I had to go back in look. The hand before busting BB is 160k and Lazar has K9s in the SB, raises to 500k, Hachem with 15-16bb pushes AQ and Lazar calls and loses. You can still see Joe stacking chips so its pretty much the next hand. Lazar raises 350k, Black pushes all in, and with 16bb calls off with QTo beats Black into the pot and looks gross when he sees the hand. He blamed it all on folding A5o to a raise and a call which would have turned quads.
This always made me laugh so hard how he punted off the biggest opportunity of his life just because he folded what would have been quads at the final table, as if that one hand would have won him the tournament. His payoff would have been like 5bb at the most lol. What a dumbass.
Dang, I misremembered Nick Marchington’s four barrel apocalypse with T2o that gave 75% of his stack to Ensan on a double up as being at the final table in 2019.
It’s certainly the worst hand ever played by a chip leader that late in the tournament, though Gold’s near disaster against Cunningham is always fun to ponder.
Didn't Phil Ivey muck a flush? That's pretty bad.
24 players left when that happened.
Every pocket pair Joe Cada played at the final table was awful.
Perhaps the way WSOP played their hand last year. Allowing the dweebs to solve and coach from the rail. If you look for it, it's blatant as can be.
Griff might've not had the "personality" of a Gold or Yang, but dude had like 50k lifetime before his run.
Bunch of hands out there, as play was pretty bad before the mid 2010s.
But two hands in particular are hilarious.
2007 final table: Lee Childs with QQ open raises to 720K. Jerry Yang with JJ 3-bets to 2.5M. Childs flat calls. Flop is 742 with two clubs. Childs bets 3M and Yang pushes all-in. After agonizing and talking to his dad on the rails (WTF), he folds.
2008 final table: Dennis Phillips limps in early position to 300K with AK offsuit (LOL). Ivan Demidov with AQ suited raises to 1.025M. Phill
I have a memory of Darvin Moon doing very similar at his FT with KQ. Or maybe he told his wife it was KQ when it was something else.
EDIT: Found it. Steve Begleiter with A♠Q♠, Darvin with K♥Q♣, flop of 4♠3♠2♦. Raising war on the flop, Begs pushes all-in, leaving Darvin with a call of t6 million on a pot of t44.75 million. Darvin folds, then tells his wife he folded QQ.
Hand at 31:06 if you want to see it yourself:
Well, it’s not really that similar but at least Moon didn’t play KQo OOP quite as badly as Foxen did. Man, that crowd and the atmosphere are like the Super Bowl compared to now. Not to mention how much better the commentators were.
And LOL Ivey. Just turn your hand over when it’s checked to you for the third time. You’re giving away supersecret info on how you play by doing that if he has you beat, but learning secrets if he does have you beat and you didn’t show? Or losing secrets if you have him beat and he doesn’t show? No wonder he’s never won a hold’em tournament.
This is a personal favorite sequence just for how horrible it looked on TV. 2023, down to five, 1/2/2 blinds.
Perfectly illustrates a rule from TPFAP: Don’t worry about stack sizes, just the blinds & antes.
That Moon hand was the worst. You can't bluff KQ on 234. Danneman 3! preflop and likely had an ace with a straight draw or an overpair and wasn't folding.
Give Moon credit for not falling apart and hanging on for second, IIRC he actually had the lead back when it got headup. He at least didn’t go all in on the bluff, but still horrible from beginning to end.
There’s no way it’s not EV+ to automuck (KQJT)o preflop 7+ handed in cash or tournament nlhe. Absolute trash hands. I automucked them in loose 10/20 15/30 LHE games too. All those limp/folds really add up over the years. I ran a bunch of sims with them with Poker Probe way back when; all medium to big losers. Just garbage.
I am planning/hoping to play the 3K LHE 6-handed event 6/22 so lol me if bust out with one of them.
Oh I just remembered that hand where Jesse Sylvia called all in with QJo for a bunch of chips HU vs Merson. I mean Im a cash reg so I dont know **** about tournaments but that one always seemed like he mentally gave up to me
Oh I just remembered that hand where Jesse Sylvia called all in with QJo for a bunch of chips HU vs Merson. I mean Im a cash reg so I dont know **** about tournaments but that one always seemed like he mentally gave up to me
Sylva 69.3M
Merson 128.9M
Blinds not in the updates lol.
Merson had been chipping away at him and it was 4:47am. He decided to gambool in what he probably figured was aBCd or hopefully XYzz. Punty but nowhere near as bad as Ferguson calling TJ’s shove with what he knew was just a three out undercard.
Blinds were 1M/2M, so Sylvia had 35bb.
