This is a throwback to the 2005 WSOP Main Event Final Table where Hachem, Matusow and Andy Black fought for which Pro could come out on top.

Matusow Crushed after a great call

Mike the Mouth had a huge run in this main event, putting it all on the line in this hand, betting the flop with his overpair and having the amateur Dannemann move all-in on him he had a tough spot… He ended up making a good call but unfortunately, his opponent spiked a straight on the Turn, giving Mike just a draw to a chop on the River which didn’t come.

He had to be one of the favourites on the day with a pretty soft final table still littered with amateurs, he cashed for $1M, so not all bad, but Mikey was a bit of a degenerate and reportedly lost all his winnings betting sports. Mike has always been surrounded by controversy and even made a $2Million bet with Ted Forrest that he couldn’t lose a huge amount of weight after Mike lost the bet he said that

“Sorry Ted if you think you’re getting any more money sue me I got 4 people who were there when the bet was made and I made it clear I wasn’t changing my lifestyle for you or any bet when it was made.”

So he would have accepted the $150,000 if Ted had lost the 13:1 shot, but because he lost a sure thing he won’t pay up the full amount… with that his prop betting days will be over.

Overplaying Top Pair

This pot was raised and raised again on this board, with Kanter eventually making the final move and going all-in. An absolute ICM suicide here, with short stacks at the table, putting in his money drawing to a chop with the board pairing higher than the 7s.

It’s important to always know how many chips the players on the final table around you have and when in borderline spots like this with weak top pair type holdings, there is no need to go crazy and pile money into these pots. Kanter essentially turned his hand into a bluff on this board.

The demise of Andy Black

Andy Black made a good call against the All-in push on this flop from Dannenmann, however, the River brought an Ace and lost Andy Black the pot. The thing is with spots like this, is Dannenmann happened to have one of the only hands here that Andy Black is really in good shape against and you can’t say that he didn’t make a good call, three out of four times he has all the chips and probably ends up winning this final table… however, many times his opponent could have a better top pair, combo draw with huge equity, overcards and a flush draw, there are just so many combinations of hands that have solid equity against a weak top pair here that I wouldn’t hate folding in this close spot.

In-game though, he had seen his earlier blow up against Mikey when he pushed with just a gutshot and overcards, so he made a great call, but got unlucky… he later lost the rest of his chips to Dannenmann when his pocket ten’s lost to a spike of a King from Dannenmann’s Ace-King.

3 Way All-in Call

The hand that got them heads up was a strange 3-way all-in called pot where Hachem kept Dannenmann in the pot and I don’t hate this play, he could smooth call and Dannenmann would probably only move all-in with hands like QQ+ so he is playing carefully as well as having two hands against Barch’s all-in, giving both himself and Dannenmann a better chance at moving up a pay spot.

Flopping Gin and Getting Raised on the Turn

Sometimes you just know it’s your tournament to win and when you not only flop a straight, but your opponent makes top pair on the Turn and raises you! Well then, that’s just a really good day at the tables and that exactly what happened to the Aussie in this pot.

All the money went in on the Turn, Joe said he tried to use some Jedi skills to get his opponent to commit the rest of his stack, but I think the fact that Dannenmann had top pair and over $4M bagged up were enough for him, he made the call drawing to a chop and the rest is history, Joe Hachem, World Champ!