Famed Hands in Poker.

Nearly all the excitement that comes from playing Texas Hold’Em is in that one moment when you surreptitiously glance at those two cards fate, or the dealer, has dealt you and are filled with elation or despair. If you are dealt a two and a seven your heart sinks immediately, where as if you are dealt pocket Aces, that feeling of euphoria you get is second to none. Great poker players have managed to win the pot regardless of the hand that they were dealt. Over the years some of these hands have made their way into poker lore. Some of these hands have won their holders places in pokers illustrious history, while one hand in particular stands out as the holder lost much more than the money that was at stake.

            One of the most well known hands is Doyle Brunson’s Ten and Two, both spades. Bronson won consecutive World Series championships with this particular hand. While facing Jesse Alto in 1976, Brunson was dealt a Ten and a Two, while his challenger Jesse Alto was holding an Ace and a Jack. The flop cards turned out to be an Ace, a Jack, and a Ten, while the flop gave Alto a pair of Aces and a pair of Jacks, it gave Brunson a pair of Tens. The next card, the turn, was a 2 and this gave Brunson a pair of Twos in addition to his Ten pair. The last card, the river, turned out to be another Ten, giving Brunson a full house and the championship. The very next  year, in a curios twist of fate, Brunson again wound up with a Two and a Ten. His opponent was Bones Berland and he was dealt an Eight and a Five. The flop cards were Ten, Eight, and Five, giving both players two pairs and prompting Brunson to move all in. The turn card was a deuce and the river was another ten, giving Brunson another full house and his second Championship in as many years.

            Another famous hand is Phil Hellmuth’s Black Nines. At the 1989 World Series, the poker brat was a brash 24 year old challenging the Orient Express, Johnny Chan.  Johnny Chan was seemingly invincible, having won the Main Event the past two years. Nobody expected the young Hellmuth to challenge him. But challenge him he did. Hellmuth was dealt the black Nines, namely a spade Nine and a club Nine, while Chan had and Ace and a Jack, both spades. After the opening bet by Hellmuth, and the subsequent raise by Chan, both players went all in. But as luck would have it, The  flop, turn and rivers cards all went in Hellmuth’s favor, making him the youngest ever World Series winner.

            Of all the illustrious hands in the history of Hold’Em, perhaps no hand is more famous than the so called “Dead Man’s Hand”. This hand compromises of two aces and two eights and an unknown fifth card. The hand got its morbid moniker as it was the very hand that the Wild West’s famous lawman, Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot clean in the back by an enemy. Hickok lost more that the pot that day, he lost his life, forever immortalized in the annals of poker history