Learning Path Warm-Up
ICM Skill Quiz
Take quizOver the course of the last couple of years, we poker lovers have seen some stunning hands resulting in big pots, both live as online: crazy set ups, big bluffs, and the greatest hero calls for tons and even millions of dollars. We made a selection of five spectacular hands you can’t miss!
So on GGPoker, there is this nice $500/$1,000 game with a $2,000 straddle. In this amazing hand, the action folds to Christopher Brewer, who finds A♠T♥ in the small blind and raised it up to $7,000.
Wiktor Malinowski looks down at 7♥2♥ in the big blind and decided to make a play. In position, he 3-bets to $22,040. Ali Imsirovic gets out of the way despite straddling, so it’s up to Brewer again. He opted for the 4-bet to $56,000. In position, Malinowski can now peel to see a flop.
The flop A♦Q♣3♣ was more than okay for Brewer, while Wiktor missed completely. Brewer went for a small continuation bet of a quarter pot. ‘Limitless’ decided to float his marginal hand.
The 5♥ on the turn didn’t change a lot for Brewer, but Malinowski picked up a gutshot and gained some equity. The odds of winning the hand on the turn were slim but it was time for Wiktor to take over the initiative. He led small with a bet of $33,340 into the $172,800 pot. The call from the American followed.
And there it was. The 4♥ river and Wiktor binked the perfect river card! In a pot of almost $240K Wiktor had a little over half the pot behind and shoved it. Quite a nasty spot for Brewer with only his pair of aces. After a tank, he called it down and must have been disgusted to see the cheeky 72 by Wiktor.
In a $500/$1,000/$200 (ante) game, Tan Xuan picked up 9♦ 7♦ on the cutoff and opened the action to $4,728. Imsirovic, holding A♠ K♠ in the big blind, ****chose to three-bet to $21,000, after which Xuan called and going heads-up to the flop.
On 5♦ 5♥ 9♠ the well-known High Roller bets $15,425 out. Not enough for Xuan who bumped it up to $53,700. Ali didn’t go out of the way and paid. The turn card J♠, gave Imsirovic the nut flush draw on the paired board. Xuan continued betting with just middle pair, firing $101,046. Imsirovic wasn’t impressed and just called once again.
The 8♠ on the river was the money card for Imsirovic to make the flush. Three spades on the board didn’t seem to scare Xuan though. After a short tank he decided to go for it with his stack of almost $310K in a pot of $350K.
The Bosnian snap-called with his monster, scooping up the $974,631 pot, making it the largest No-Limit Hold’em hand in online poker history.
Test your own cash game skills with the Pokercode cash game quiz!
This spectacular hand just couldn’t miss on our list. On the legendary cash game Show High Stakes Poker, it was Antonio Esfandiari who laid down A♦Q♣ because he didn’t want to play out of position against Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen. Both of them coming in with a low pocket pair: 6♠ 6♥ for ‘KidPoker’ and Hansen held 5♦5♣.
A miracle flop appeared on the felt: 9♣6♦5♥ with both players hitting their set! In position pre-flop aggressor Negreanu bet out $8,000 after which the Dane decided to raise it up to $26,000. The Canadian opted to just call to see the turn.
Hansen in very bad shape but not after the turn: 5♠! WOW! Quads for him and at first sight a good card for Negreanu making his full house. The Scandinavian legend continued with a turn bet of $24,000 into $63,700. Once again, Negreanu saw no other option than to just call. On the river 8♠ Hansen switched to checking, aiming to check-raise a bet of his opponent. And so it happened: Negreanu put in $65,000 after which Hansen went all-in for $167,000. Sick spot for Daniel but he couldn’t lay down such a monster. He called and saw the bad news. With a pot of $575,000, Hansen clinched the biggest pot in the shows' history.
Speaking of two of the best players in the game, Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan definitely must be up there. They battled it out in a stunning pot over $1 million pot in the Million Dollar Cash game show. Dwan opened the action with 7♥6♥ from the button, holding a nice suited connector, when small blind Phil Ivey opted to 3bet his A♣2♦ to $20,000. Patrick Antonius got out of the way before Dwan decided to take a flop.
On J♣3♦5♣ Ivey continued betting, this time the amount of $35,000. Dwan thought about his options and chose to peel in position. His dream card appeared: the 4♥! Making the nut straight and Ivey the wheel: this could be disastrous for him! Now Ivey fired again with $90,000 into $120,000. With a total stack of $500,000, Dwan had to decide whether only to call or to raise it up.
The wonder kid opted for the latter option making it $232,500 total. Ivey thought about it, went all-in, and obviously, the snap-call of his opponent followed. Ivey was drawing dead against the nuts, while Dwan won a stunning $1.1 million pot. The biggest in televised history. What a pot!
After some of the biggest coolers in televised Cash Game history let’s have a look at a great hero call. This hand happened on High Stakes Poker in a clash between Patrik Antonius and Phil Laak. Preflop they get involved with Laak holding A♥J♦, Antonius T♠4♠ , and Howard Lederer joined the party as well with 8♠8♦.
On 3♠2♥4♥ Laak bet out $16,000 with Lederer somewhat surprisingly folding to just a c-bet and laying down the best hand. Antonius decided to call his top pair and got a flush draw as well on the turn K♠. Laak wasn’t giving up on this hand and fires $37,300 once again. The pretty clear decision for the Finnish pro to call once again.
The American didn’t hit the river Q♦ either but still went on bluffing going for his third barrel. Firing $80,000 he turned the heat up once again on his opponent. Antonius thought about it for a while and decided that his small pair could be good quite often. He called down the triple barrel and took the pot seeing Laak was bluffing. Nice call, sir!
Check out our other articles, interviews, and stories. You'll love it!
