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Legendary Poker Hands

Texas Holdem No-Limit WSOP 1990

$10,000 Main Event: The River Gods save Matloubi


Hans Lund   Mansour Matloubi
Ace of Clubs Nine of Diamonds VS Ten of Diamonds Ten of Clubs
The Flop The Turn The River
Nine of Spades Two of Clubs Four of Diamonds Ace of Spades Ten of Spades

The Result

In this showdown the blinds are set at $15,000-$30,000, Matloubi is holding pocket tens (10Diamonds10Clubs) and Hans has the AClubs9Diamonds. Matloubi is first to act and he comes in with a $75,000 raise and Hans decides to call. The flop brings the 9Spades2Clubs4Diamonds, which gives Lund the top pair with top kicker, and Matloubi has the top overpair. Lund is first to act and he checks, Matloubi follows up with a $100,000 bet and Lund then check-raises $250,000 more. Matloubi took his time with his next decision, and he chose to call Hans' bet of $250,000 and then he re-raised all-in for an additional $378,000. Now it was over to Lund and he pondered for a while before he would call the bet. The players turned their cards over and they knew exactly where they stood. The turn card came and it was the ASpades, now Hans has top two pair and the only way he can lose is if Matloubi hits one of the two tens remaining on the river. Matloubi couldn't believe it and now all he can do is wait for his last chance. The river card came and it was a miracle 10Spades for Mansour Matloubi and he won a huge pot. This was the turning point as Matloubi eventually went on to win the championship.

analysis

Once the flop came Lund committed himself to the pot when he decided to check-raise. Lund might have thought he was beaten when Matloubi had moved all-in, but he knew he put in so many chips already that it was going to be tough to fold. The slight possibility that Matloubi might have been bluffing when he re-raised all-in, the giant pot, and the fact that he had 5 outs made him call and get ready to gamble.



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