Category: My news, views and fun facts

In the ninth of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School recalls how an 18-year-old girl won £1 million

Annette Obrestadt was just 18 when she won the Main Event, and £1 million, at the first World Series of Poker Europe. It made her the youngest ever bracelet winner – so young, in fact, that it would be more than two years before she was legally allowed to play in Las Vegas. Coming four years after Chris Moneymaker turned $39 into $2.5m at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 2003, this striking victory by a young woman over established pros such as Gus Hansen, who finished in tenth place, showed just how much Moneymaker’s win had changed the face of poker.
Moneymaker, more than anyone, was responsible for the boom in online poker. Obrestadt was very much an online player: she had already racked up $800,000 in MTT cashes before entering the WSOPE. In an interview directly after winning the title, Obrestadt summed up why the new breed of internet players were making waves in live play: “I’ve played thousands of tournaments online. Most professionals only play 60 or so live tournaments a year so I think I have an advantage there.”

Who is Annette Obrestadt?

Born in 1988, Annette Obrestadt began playing poker at the age of 15 – hence her screen name, “Annette_15”. While Chris Moneymaker spun up his poker fortune from $39, Obrestadt says she never invested any of her own money at all, building up her poker bankroll initially from freeroll tournaments.
Living in Norway, Obrestadt developed a highly aggressive playing style typical of many Scandinavian players: her other screen name is “The Huntress”. Blessed with a natural talent, she also experimented and worked hard at her poker strategy. She is famous for once winning a tournament playing “blind”, with her cards covered up. She did this to show “just how important it is to play position and to pay attention to the players at the table”.
Her win at the WSOPE was no fluke. Since then she has amassed nearly $4m in live tournament earnings, ranking her second amongst all Norwegian players, male or female.

How Annette Obrestadt crushed the World Series of Poker Europe

The 2007 WSOPE Main Event, held in London’s Casino at the Empire on Leicester Square, was the first time that official gold bracelets had been awarded outside Las Vegas (the WSOP has now expanded to Asia Pacific as well as Europe). Obrestadt worked hard for hers, building her stack up on the final table from just half that of the chip leader. The Scandinavian-heavy final nine made for a lot of aggressive action, but it was the final heads-up poker battle that really counted.
Obrestadt was pitted against John Tabatabai. Their single combat lasted for nearly as many hands as the rest of the final table put together. Finally, Obrestadt got the miracle flop that would clinch her victory: on a flop of 7-6-5, she pushed all-in with top set, while her opponent held two pair and needed runner-runner quads to survive.
With the legal age in Las Vegas being 21, it is likely that Obrestadt’s record as the youngest ever bracelet winner will stand forever.
 

Who is Annette Obrestadt? Poker player profile

  • Born in 1988, Annette Obrestadt started playing online poker at the age of 15, under the screen name “Annette_15”.
  • Before switching to live poker she had won $800,000 in online MTTs, winning one tournament with her cards covered up.
  • In winning the Main Event of the World Series of Poker Europe in 2007, Annette Obrestadt became the youngest ever bracelet winner.
  • Her first prize in the WSOPE was £1 million, and she now has nearly $4m in live poker tournament earnings.

Read the eighth of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, and find out how an amateur turned a $39 online satellite into a $2.5m Main Event win
Or come back tomorrow for the last part in our WSOP series.

In the eighth of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School recalls how an amateur turned a $39 online satellite into a $2.5m Main Event win

Of all the great moments in the history of the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the most transformative for the future of the game as a whole was surely Chris Moneymaker’s victory in 2003. It was a personification of the American Dream that anyone, regardless of their background, can make it big.
Chris Moneymaker entered a $39 online satellite tournament, which led to a $600 satellite, which won him a seat at the Main Event of the WSOP. That $39 investment was to net Chris Moneymaker a first prize of $2.5 million.
That year was also notable for ESPN expanding the coverage and hole-card cameras being introduced on the final table. This truly was the beginning of the internet-fuelled poker boom, with entries to the WSOP Main Event increasing tenfold from 839 in 2003 to 8,773 in 2006. Poker writers now refer to this as “the Moneymaker Effect”.

Who is Chris Moneymaker?

Can there ever have been a poker champion more aptly named than “Moneymaker”? It sounds like an online poker nickname, but in fact his German ancestors made coins, and chose “Moneymaker” as an Anglicisation of their surname “Nurmacher”.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Chris Moneymaker further lived up to his name by studying accounting at university, becoming a comptroller. He was just 27 when he entered the World Series of Poker Main Event. Amazingly, it was his first live poker tournament.
Even so, Chris Moneymaker played well enough on Day One to catch the eye of professional sports handicapper Lou Diamond, who prophetically tipped him as his “dark horse to win the whole tournament”.

Chris Moneymaker knocks out Phil Ivey to make the WSOP final table

Chris Moneymaker did have a stroke of luck to get to the final table. With 10 players left, and holding trip Queens with an Ace kicker, he called Phil Ivey’s all-in bet on the turn only to find himself facing down a full house. A lucky Ace came on the river to change the course of history – sending the amateur to the final table, and denying Phil Ivey his coveted world championship win.
Once there, Chris Moneymaker made up in courage what he lacked in experience. The final table got underway at 2pm, and became heads-up at 12.30am. Moneymaker was pitted against Sammy Farha, and by now had twice his stack. Over the next hour, however, the more experienced pro chipped away at the amateur’s stack until the two were nearly even.
It was then that Chris Moneymaker decided to make his stand.
Both men flopped a flush draw. Moneymaker’s spades were higher, with K7 to Farha’s Q9, but the 9-high flop gave Farha top pair. Both players checked. The turn gave Moneymaker an open-ended straight draw as well as his flush draw, so when Farha now bet out with 300,000, Moneymaker re-raised him to 800,000. Still with top pair and a (lesser) flush draw, Farha called, but he must have felt rattled.

Chris Moneymaker pulls off a historic bluff

The river was a red 3: no possible help to either man. But at this point, sensing weakness, Moneymaker made a huge all-in shove.
Farha tanked. Top pair is not usually a hand you can fold when heads-up. Then again, Moneymaker had bet his tournament life on this hand – would he do that on a bluff? And would an amateur be capable of such daring against a seasoned pro?
Farha eventually folded, leaving his stack fatally crippled at 1.8m to Moneymaker’s 6.6m, and the bluff entered the annals of poker history as one of the most audacious the WSOP has seen.

Who is Chris Moneymaker? Poker player profile

  • Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1975, Chris Moneymaker was an accountant before turning to poker full-time
  • Moneymaker turned a $39 online satellite entry into a $2.5m win at the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003
  • His autobiography is entitled Moneymaker: How an Amateur Poker Player Turned $40 into $2.5 Million at the World Series of Poker (2005)
  • The online poker boom that followed Chris Moneymaker’s WSOP victory has become known as “the Moneymaker Effect”

Why not go back and read part 7 of our 10 part WSOP series which is about only player to have won three Main Event championships. 
Or come back tomorrow for part 9.
 

In the seventh of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School explains how Stu “The Kid” Ungar battled drug addiction to become “The Comeback Kid”

There are many who would agree that Stu Ungar was quite simply the best natural poker player of all time. His prowess at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) certainly supports this view. He is the only player to have won three Main Event championships (apart from Johnny Moss, whose first victory was achieved by a vote of his peers, rather than winning a tournament).
When Stu Ungar reached the final table of the WSOP Main Event in 1997, poker fans flocked in such numbers to see if he could win a historic third title that, for the first and only time, the television table was placed in the middle of Fremont Street to allow everyone to crowd round.

Who was Stu Ungar?

Stu Ungar was a card-game prodigy with a photographic memory. His card-counting at blackjack was so good the casinos banned him, and at gin rummy he defeated the man previously renowned as the best player by 86 games to none. In poker he proved equally adept, winning the WSOP in 1980, aged 26, and then again in 1981.
Sadly, addiction got the better of him. In the 1990 Main Event, he was found unconscious from a drug overdose in his hotel on the third day. Even so, he had built up such a commanding stack that he reached the final table anyway: by the time he was blinded out he had placed ninth. In the 1992 WSOP, he sensationally busted out 1990 WSOP champion Mansour Matloubi in a $50,000 heads-up event when he hero-called Matloubi’s river bluff with just 10-high – he had correctly guessed his opponent had had a gutshot draw on the flop, with the board at 3-3-7-K-Q.

Stu Ungar makes the WSOP final table in 1997

Despite having earned an estimated $30 million in his career, Stu Ungar was penniless by the time of the 1997 WSOP. A fellow player staked him the $10,000 buy-in at the very last minute, just before registration closed.
Stu Ungar actually got off to a shaky start: he had been up for 24 hours trying to raise the money, and his tiredness showed. But from Day Two, Ungar put on a powerhouse demonstration of poker strategy and reads that has rarely been bettered. At one stage on Day Two he was seated with four former world champions: Bobby Baldwin, Berry Johnston, Doyle Brunson and Phil Hellmuth. But Ungar was the only one of these men to make it to the final table, with a commanding chip stack that was double that of his nearest competitor.
He showed his mettle early on in the final table when he got the crowd favourite, Ron Stanley, to relinquish the best hand on a big pot when Ungar re-raised the turn and then bluffed the river with air. Even that bet was set up in advance: he had previously shown a hand in which he slow-played top pair, so he knew his bluff would seem plausible. Ungar just kept on swinging until he was left heads-up with more than four times John Strzemp’s stack.
The outcome was never really in doubt. Strzemp was knocked out within six hands.

Stu Ungar, “The Comeback Kid”

In 1980, when Stu Ungar won his first poker world championship, he was nicknamed “The Kid”. After overcoming his demons to win the title for a historic third time, 17 years later, the press dubbed him “The Comeback Kid”.
But though Ungar could win at cards, he couldn’t win his own personal war on drugs. He never could kick the habit for long, and he died the following year.
Stu Ungar himself put it best, when interviewed directly after his 1997 WSOP victory: “There’s nobody that can beat me playing cards. The only one that ever beat me was myself, my bad habits.” 

Who is Stu Ungar? Poker player profile

  • Stu Ungar made poker history when he first won back-to-back WSOP championships in 1980 and 1981, then won again in 1997
  • First nicknamed “The Kid”, he was thereafter known as “The Comeback Kid”
  • He is generally regarded as the finest poker and gin rummy player of all time
  • He had a photographic memory, which saw him banned from playing blackjack
  • Stu Ungar battled addiction for most of his adult life, and died in 1998 of a drug-related heart condition, aged 45

Read our last WSOP on the only one woman has ever reached the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
Or come back tomorrow to read about Chris Moneymaker and the online poker boom.

In the sixth of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School profiles the only woman to reach the final table at the World Series of Poker

Poker is a male-dominated world. Some estimates put the proportion of female players in live tournaments as low as 5%. There are many possible factors behind this, but the fact remains that only one woman has ever reached the final table of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event.
It’s for this reason that, although poker guru Dan Harrington won the WSOP championship in 1995, the most notable performance that year was arguably Barbara Enright’s.

Who is Barbara Enright?

When asked to name a female poker pro, you might immediately think of Annie Duke, Vanessa Selbst, or Liv Boeree. But to players of an older generation, Barbara Enright’s name would roll first off the tongue.
Barbara Enright started playing poker with her elder brother at the age of four, and began playing in poker rooms in the 1970s. It wasn’t long before she gave up her jobs as a hairstylist and cocktail waitress to turn pro. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, in 2007, and the first to win first two, then three WSOP bracelets. And she is still the only woman to have reached the final table of the WSOP Main Event – though Annie Duke came close, finishing in tenth place in 2000.

Barbara Enright’s final table in 1995

With two WSOP bracelets already to her name, Barbara Enright qualified for the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event through an online satellite that cost just $220 to enter. She asked a previous backer to stake her for 50%, but he declined – a decision that would cost him £57,000!
Enright fought her way through not just to the final table of nine, but to the television table of six. The competition was tough: the other five players were Chuck Thompson, Hamid Dastmalchi, Brent Carter and Howard Goldfarb, as well as Dan Harrington.
In the end, however, the poker gods decided it was not to be. It was not bad play that brought an end to Enright’s championship dream, but bad luck. She was knocked out in fifth place when her commanding pocket 8s were outdrawn by Carter’s meagre 6-3 suited, which flopped two pair.

Women Poker Player Magazine

The veteran poker commentator Mike Sexton has called Enright “the most dominating, relentless, aggressive woman on the tournament circuit”. The poker writer Al Moe has said she is “like a heavy rock on a steep hill”.
Inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame the same year as Phil Hellmuth, and made Editor-in-Chief of Women Poker Player Magazine, Enright continues to play to this day, 40 years after she began testing herself in the male-dominated cardroom environment. Her heavy rock is still rolling: in 2017 so far she has cashed in four tournaments, including the skill-testing $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. at the World Series of Poker.
 

Who is Barbara Enright? Poker player profile

  • Barbara Enright started playing poker at the age of four, and has played in cardrooms since the early 1970s
  • She has won three WSOP bracelets
  • She was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2007
  • Barbara Enright is the only woman ever to have reached the final table in the WSOP Main Event
  • Mike Sexton has called her “the most dominating, relentless, aggressive woman on the tournament circuit”

Read part 5 of our WSOP blogs on the youngest ever World Series of Poker champion.
Or come back tomorrow to read about when Stu Ungar wons a historic third world championship.

In the fifth of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School recalls how a young Phil Hellmuth stopped “The Orient Express” in his tracks

The 1989 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event was meant to be the remarkable story of how Johnny Chan, aka “The Orient Express”, powered his way to an unbeatable third championship title in a row.
He might have got away with it, too, were it not for that pesky kid, Phil Hellmuth…

Who is Phil Hellmuth?

Do you even have to ask? With his gift for self-promotion, backed up by a natural talent sharpened by three decades of playing at the highest levels, Phil Hellmuth might just be the most famous of all poker players – perhaps matched only by Daniel Negreanu and Phil Ivey.
Where would poker be without Phil Hellmuth? In an age in which so many pros are quiet, reserved maths obsessives, Hellmuth is a uniquely colourful figure. His live reads are so well honed that he calls his intuitive style of play “White Magic”. His brashness earned him the nickname “Poker Brat”, one he has embraced as the title of his new autobiography. He has earned more WSOP bracelets than any other player (14 and counting). Nor is he shy of reminding players of that fact: in 2009 he arrived at the WSOP dressed as a Roman Emperor, carried aloft by muscular men and attended by a bevy of beauties.

The 1989 WSOP Main Event

And it all began at the 1989 World Series of Poker. The poker world was preparing to celebrate the incredible “three-peat” victory of Johnny Chan, who was gunning for his third championship title after winning back-to-back Main Events in 1987 and 1988. Instead, The Orient Express hit the buffers and Hellmuth became, at 24, the youngest ever poker world champion.
Phil Hellmuth had knocked out two players in a single hand to get heads-up with Johnny Chan, and so held about twice as many chips as the defending champion. It didn’t last long. Holding pocket 9s, Hellmuth made a sudden outsized bet, moving all-in pre-flop. Johnny Chan barely hesitated before calling the young upstart, and found himself a clear underdog with A7.
It was a victory no one could have predicted – except, strangely, the two finalists themselves. Only a year and half earlier Phil Hellmuth had reassessed his directionless life, and written down a list of goals. They included “Win the Main Event”. Before the tournament, he left a message on his answerphone saying, “You’re talking to the 1989 world champion of poker”.
As for Chan, he had said of Phil Hellmuth in an Esquire interview earlier that year, “That kid, when he learns to rein it in, he’s going to win the Main Event.” This is one time where Chan can’t have been happy to have been proved right.

Who is Phil Hellmuth? Poker player profile

  • Born in 1964, Phil Hellmuth was the youngest ever winner of the WSOP Main Event, in 1989, and holds a record 14 bracelets
  • Nicknamed “the Poker Brat” for his outbursts when he suffers a bad beat
  • Author of three influential books on poker strategy, and a new autobiography, Poker Brat: the Story of the World’s Greatest Poker Player
  • Famous for saying “If there was no luck I’d win every hand”
  • Phil Hellmuth’s grand entrances to the World Series of Poker include dressing as a US general, a Roman emperor, and a mixed martial arts fighter

Read the 4th part of our WSOP series about a winning Main Event hand from Johnny Chan that was immortalised in the movie Rounders.
Or come back tomorrow to check out the next part which profiles the only woman to reach the final table at the World Series of Poker.

In the fourth of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School looks at a winning Main Event hand that was immortalised in the movie Rounders

One of the best loved and most authentic movies about poker is Rounders (1998). In the final hand, the young poker prodigy (played by Matt Damon) flops a straight, and decides to slow-play it. His bullying Russian opponent (John Malkovich) falls right into his trap, shoving all-in on the river. Matt Damon snap-calls with a smile.
“That son of beech!” explodes the Russian, slamming his cards down on the table. “He trap me!”
What you may not know is that the hand is based on Johnny Chan’s famous winning hand in the World Series of Poker (WSOP), ten years before.

Who is Johnny Chan?

Born in China in 1957, Johnny Chan emigrated with his parents to America in 1968. His parents expected him to follow them into the restaurant business, but he dropped out of studying hotel and restaurant management at 21 to move to Las Vegas with just $300 to his name.
In 1981, Johnny Chan earned the nickname “the Orient Express” for defeating all nine players at the final table of the 1981 America Cup poker tournament in under an hour. He became respected as one of the very finest players of the 1980s, and is still playing today. He is second equal in WSOP bracelets, with 10, and has cashed at the WSOP 45 times. 

Johnny Chan defends his WSOP title in 1988

Johnny Chan won the WSOP Main Event in 1987. For most players that would be accolade enough, but Chan was determined to repeat the feat in 1988.
On the final table, Chan ended up heads-up against Erik Seidel. Seidel is himself an excellent player who seems only to improve with age: he has won eight WSOP bracelets. But Chan’s strategy was to use his rival’s self-confidence and aggression against him, and he laid the perfect trap.
Holding J-9 suited, Chan flopped a straight. Seidel had no more than top pair with a weak kicker. Yet when Chan bet, Seidel re-raised. Resisting the temptation to raise again, Chan simply called, with a show of reluctance.
The turn card was a blank. Both men checked, Chan still trapping Seidel into a false sense of security. In those days, the hole cards were not shown to viewers until the turn. The commentator summed up the excitement at the reveal: “Erik Seidel cannot win this hand, and yet he doesn’t know it! Chan is trying to sucker him in!”
When the river card was also a blank, Seidel shoved all-in. Chan snap-called with the absolute nuts, and the rest is both poker and film history.
Amazingly, Johnny Chan ended up heads-up in the WSOP Main Event the next year as well. But the real star of that story is a 24-year-old Phil Hellmuth, who features in the next part in our series…

Who is Johnny Chan? Poker player profile

  • Born in China in 1957, Johnny Chan moved to America in 1968
  • Nicknamed “The Orient Express” after he demolished the final table of the 1981 America Cup poker tournament in under an hour
  • Along with Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan holds 10 WSOP bracelets
  • His victory over Erik Seidel in the 1988 WSOP Main Event was immortalised in the film Rounders (1998), in which he also had a cameo role
  • Johnny Chan is famous for keeping an orange beside him at the poker table, supposedly to combat the smell of cigarettes

Read part 3 of our 10 part series on the greatest moment in WSOP history. The third part in our series explores how the tournament phrase “a chip and a chair” was born.
Come back tomorrow to find out how a young Phil Hellmuth stopped “The Orient Express” in his tracks.

In the third of a 10-part series on the World Series of Poker, the Paul Phua Poker School explores how the tournament phrase “a chip and a chair” was born

You may have heard the poker expression, “as long as you’ve got a chip and a chair…” It means that no matter how few chips you have left in a poker tournament, you always have a chance. But you may not know that this saying was born at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in 1982.
It’s not just the greatest underdog story in poker, but it’s hard to think of a bigger comeback in any sport. It all starts with Jack “Treetop” Straus…

Who was Jack “Treetop” Straus?

Jack Straus, nicknamed “Treetop” due to his imposing 6’6″ frame, was one of the old-school “road gamblers” who would criss-cross Texas in search of a good game. With a fearlessly aggressive playing style, his speciality was heads-up poker, and when he played full ring he was never scared to get all his chips in.
Straus is known for one of the greatest bluffs in poker, during a high-stakes Texas Hold ‘Em cash game. Despite being dealt the worst starting hand in poker, 7-2, he bet out, and was rewarded with a flop of 7-3-3 for top pair. Of course he bet again, but his opponent re-raised him: surely a larger pocket pair.
Straus called anyway, and the turn was a 2. Three pair of course is not a poker hand, so this was no help to Straus, but nevertheless he fired out a huge bet. His opponent tanked. What could such a big bet mean? Trips? A house? Now came the speechplay.
“I’ll show you whichever one of my cards you choose if you give me $25,” said Straus.
His opponent couldn’t see the harm in gaining more information, and tossed over a $25 chip. He selected a card, and Straus turned it over: a 2. The genius of this move was that, whichever card his opponent selected, he would think that hole card was paired for a full house. After all, Straus couldn’t be betting big with just two pair, could he? The higher pocket pair reluctantly folded.

The 1982 WSOP Main Event

At the 1982 WSOP Main Event, Jack Straus put his creativity and aggression to good use. On day two, after he’d lost a big hand, he seemed to have been knocked out. But as he was standing up from the table he noticed a single 500 chip hidden under a napkin. It had not been included in Straus’s shove, and he hadn’t announced “all-in”, so he was allowed to sit back down and play.
The next hand was folded round to his big blind. He then doubled up his increased stack. Before long, he had the most chips at the table.
By the end of day two, Jack Straus had 90,000 chips. By the end of day three, he was chip leader with 341,500. Before long, Straus had single-handedly eliminated most of the final table until only he and Dewey Tomko were left.
Their heads-up contest lasted just ten minutes. Straus got it in good with A-10 against Tomko’s A-4. Tomko hit the 4 on the flop, but Straus triumphed when the 10 hit on the river, winning a then record payout of $520,000. And all from a single chip and a chair.

Who was Jack “Treetop” Straus? Poker player profile

  • In 1982, Jack Straus came back from a single chip to win the World Series of Poker, giving birth to the saying “a chip and a chair”
  • He was nicknamed “Treetop” on account of being six and half foot tall
  • One of the old-school “road gamblers”, Jack Straus once said: “If they had wanted you to hold on to money they’d have made it with handles”
  • A keen big-game hunter, Jack Straus wore a lion’s paw inscribed with the motto: “Better a day as a lion than one hundred years as a lamb”
  • In 1988, aged 58, Jack Straus died as he had lived, sitting at a high-stakes cash table, having suffered an aortic aneurysm

Read part 2 of our 10 part World Series of Poker mini series and discover how 10-2 or the ‘Doyle Brunson Hand’ got it’s name.
Or come back tomorrow for Johnny Chan’s winning hand that was immortalised in the movie ‘Rounders’.

In the second of a 10-part series, the Paul Phua Poker School recalls how 10-2 became the luckiest hand in World Series of Poker history

With the sheer number of hands that have been played during all the successive World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournaments, you would think that anything could happen. But of all the unlikely strokes of fortune over nearly 50 years of the WSOP, there cannot be anything to rival Doyle Brunson taking down the championship two years running – with the very same lucky hand!

Who is Doyle Brunson?

Doyle Brunson, nicknamed “Texas Dolly” or “The Godfather of Poker”, is one of the last of the old poker greats still standing – or at least sitting, since you’ll often see him in a motorised chair these days. He’s 83 years old, and has been plagued for most of that time by the bad knee that ended his youthful dream of becoming a professional basketball player.
Basketball’s loss is poker’s gain. Brunson has won 10 WSOP bracelets, and his poker strategy book Super/System, originally self-published in 1978, became the bible for a whole generation of poker players. In 2006, after Super/System 2 was published, Brunson was voted by Bluff Magazine the most influential force in the world of poker.

1976: Doyle Brunson wins the WSOP Main Event

In the 1976 WSOP Main Event, Doyle Brunson was heads-up with a player called Jesse Alto. Unlike Brunson, Alto was a keen amateur rather than a professional: his day job was as a car dealer. As a result, he had not fully learned to keep cool in tight spots, and Brunson said he was looking to exploit that weakness.
Jesse Alto bet out with A-J, an excellent starting hand when heads-up. Brunson called with 10-2 suited. The flop came A-J-10, giving Alto two pair. Brunson went all-in with the weaker hand, Alto of course called.
The story of the 1976 WSOP could have been about how an amateur car dealer bested the world’s top pros… but the poker gods decided otherwise. In one of the worst bad beats in Main Event history, Brunson caught runner-runner 2s on the turn and river to make a full house!

1977: Doyle Brunson wins the WSOP Main Event again – with the same hand!

They say lightning never strikes twice. Perhaps it does in Texas. The very next year, Doyle Brunson was defending his title heads-up against Gary “Bones” Berland when he looked down at 10-2 – again. Berland was dealt 8-5.
Yet again Brunson found himself behind when the flop of 10-8-5 gave him a pair, and his opponent two pair. Yet again, the 2 hit on the turn to give Brunson two pair, and this time he was ahead. When Berland pushed all-in, Brunson gladly called. Incredibly, Brunson yet again made a full house on the river when a 10 hit, and he was crowned world champion for the second year in a row.

The “Doyle Brunson hand”

There are many colourful names for different poker hands. Aces are nicknamed “bullets” or “pocket rockets”; pocket Kings are nicknamed “cowboys”; J-5 is known as “Jackson Five” or just “Motown”.
To this day, if you show 10-2, another player around the table is likely to nod wisely and say, “Ah, the ‘Doyle Brunson hand’”.

Who is Doyle Brunson? Poker player profile

  • Born in 1933, Doyle Brunson is nicknamed “Texas Dolly” or “the Godfather of Poker”
  • He is second equal in WSOP bracelets, with 10
  • He won back-to-back WSOP Main Events in 1976 and 1977
  • Doyle Brunson is the author of several books on poker including Super/System and Super/System 2

Read the first blog in our World Series of Poker mini series on how the World Series of Poker was born, and how “the Grand Old Man of Poker” earned his name.

Or come back tomorrow and read about how the tournament phrase “a chip and a chair” was born at the WSOP.

In the first of a 10-part series, the Paul Phua Poker School looks at how the world’s biggest poker tournament began

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has witnessed extraordinary dramas and created huge stars. In a 10-part mini-series, the Paul Phua Poker School picks 10 key events from the WSOP’s rich history, from Phil Hellmuth becoming world champion aged 24 to internet poker coming of age. We start with the humble origins of the WSOP, and how “the Grand Old Man of Poker” earned his name.

1970: the very first World Series of Poker

When you see the palatial ballrooms of the Rio casino in Las Vegas filled with hundreds of poker tables, and hear the constant clatter of chips filling the air, it’s hard to picture the World Series of Poker’s humble beginnings back in 1970. In those days, Binion’s Horseshoe Casino didn’t even have a poker room. But its publicity-savvy owner, Jack Binion, scented an opportunity when he saw the top poker players of the age gathered at a Texas Gamblers’ Reunion in 1969.
The next year, he invited them to play at Binion’s. Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson was there, along with Jack “Treetop” Straus, “Amarillo Slim” Preston, “Titanic” Thompson and “Puggy” Pearson. But there was no tournament, just several days of mixed cash games, after which they were all invited to choose the best all-round player. Legend has it that each man voted for himself! So Binion then asked them to vote for whoever they thought was second only to themselves: Johnny Moss was crowned champion.

Who was Johnny Moss?

Born in 1907, Johnny Moss had been gambling since he was a boy, and as a teenager was hired by a saloon in his hometown of Dallas, Texas to spot anyone trying to cheat. His legendary five-month heads-up poker marathon against Nick the Greek in 1949 – legendary, in that Moss told the story, but it has not been fully substantiated – was thrillingly documented in Al Alvarez’s classic book The Biggest Game in Town. It was no surprise that Johnny Moss could command the respect of his peers.

1971: the first World Series of Poker tournament

In 1971, after a Los Angeles Times reporter told Jack Binion that he needed more of a competition if he wanted press coverage, the World Series of Poker took on the format we would recognise today: a freezeout tournament. Seven players paid the $5,000 buy-in. Though the individual hands have not been documented, it is known that after two days Johnny Moss won fair and square.
“It does show we voted for the right guy,” said Doyle Brunson later.

The Grand Old Man of Poker

Earning the nickname “The Grand Old Man of Poker”, Moss played at every WSOP until the year of his death in 1995, aged 88, winning nine bracelets in all. In one of his final interviews, at a poker table in Binion’s that year, he said: “I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old. I guess I know what I’m doing by now.”

Who was Johnny Moss? Key facts

  • Born in 1907, Johnny Moss learned to gamble as a boy
  • Beat Nick the Greek for a rumoured $2m in a five-month heads-up poker marathon
  • Nicknamed “the Grand Old Man of Poker”
  • First World Series of Poker champion, and winner of nine WSOP bracelets

Come back tomorrow to read part 2 in our 10 part series on the World Series of Poker. Tomorrow we will revealing how the “Doyle Brunson hand” got its name.

With Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov giving half their $274k WSOP win to the REG poker charity they co-founded, Paul Phua looks at a different kind of raising in poker – raising money for charity 

In Casino Royale, James Bond has to win a game of poker to save the world. In real life, poker players are also playing their part in saving the world – through charity poker tournaments.
At the World Series of Poker 2017, Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov jointly won the $10,000 Tag Team Championship, taking down $273,964 in prize money. A nice twist to their joint victory is that the two players are partners in life as well as in poker. As they kissed for the cameras, it seemed a heart-warming instance of love conquering all. Even more touching, however, is that the power couple have pledged to donate half their WSOP winnings to charity.
Poker coach Doug Polk has also proven the worth of his own teachings by besting 130 players in the $111,111 buy-in High Roller for One Drop. It gives him his third WSOP bracelet, but it is also a big win for charity.

One Drop poker

One Drop was started in 2007 by Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil and a keen poker player. The non-profit organisation aims to provide access to safe drinking water for all. When One Drop stages a poker tournament, 11% of the buy-in goes to worthy causes. Since these charity poker tournaments are played for the highest stakes, that can be a lot of money.
The last $1 million buy-in Big One for One Drop was in 2014. It made $4,666,662 for the charity – just from one poker tournament! That was won by my friend Dan Colman, whom I often play against in high-stakes cash games. (Watch the Paul Phua Poker School video profile on Dan Colman here, and his interview about online poker vs live poker here.)
I have played in several One Drop tournaments myself. I even won the Monte Carlo One Drop last year. Despite the €752,700 prize, I am still down overall, since the two times I have entered the Big One for One Drop cost $1 million each! But that is the beautiful thing about charity poker tournaments. Even when you lose, you feel like a winner. You just think of all the good that can be done with the money you have contributed. I donate to several worthy causes, but with charity poker tournaments I can pursue my favourite passion at the same time.

Other charity poker tournaments

Following in the giant footsteps of One Drop, a number of poker charities have sprung up. PokerStars has done its bit in the past, helping to raise half a million dollars for Hurricane Haiyan relief, amongst other causes. The World Poker Tour (WPT) has held numerous charity events, pulling in celebrity hosts such as Tiger Woods and Mel Gibson. The Charity Series of Poker raises money for a variety of good causes, and is backed by pros such as Mike Matusow, Greg Merson and Mike Mizrachi. The Triton Series, of which I have been a strong supporter since its inception, gives 100% of its profits to charity.
Returning to the WSOP’s tag team couple, Liv Boeree and Igor Kurganov, the $136,982 they are giving away will go to REG (Raising for Effective Giving). This is an organisation they co-founded which encourages poker players to donate 2% of everything they earn to charity. Ambassadors include John Juanda, Cate Hall and Erik Seidel.
Liv Boeree put it well at REG’s launch in 2014: “I’ve been playing poker for a long time and thankfully, I’ve been reasonably successful doing so. With that came a wealth of amazing opportunities the game has given me, from travel to experiences to meeting heroes from many industries. But at the same time I’ve become increasingly aware of a growing emptiness I’ve been feeling, and it’s one I’m not alone with – it’s the question of what we, as poker players, are actually contributing long-term to society.”

Fundraising through poker

Many professional poker players struggle: they overplay, they burn out. Sometimes they take a sabbatical from the game, go travelling, and return refreshed. But perhaps what some need instead is the sense of a noble purpose beyond their own self-interest.
So if you ever start to feel hollow inside as you sit at the poker table or computer screen, consider playing for some higher goal such as a charity. It might just save your game – and the world.
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[dt_sc_h2 class=’aligncenter’]Charity poker tournament organisers[/dt_sc_h2]
One Drop. One Drop poker tournaments donate 11% of the buy-in to the charity, and all players at the WSOP are encouraged to give 1% of earnings.
The Charity Series of Poker. Stages tournaments in aid of charities such as Three Square Food Bank and Habitat for Humanity.
World Poker Tour (WPT) Foundation. Hosts a series of ongoing philanthropic poker events under the title WPT Playing for a Better World.
Triton Series. Donates 100% of profits to charities including The Red Cross and Project Pink.
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