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Legendary Poker Hands

Texas Holdem No-Limit WSOP 1994

$10,000 Main Event: Wrong Time to Bluff

Russ Hamilton		Hugh Vincent
	VS

The Flop	The Turn	The River

The Result

Russ Hamilton and Hugh Vincent were going heads-up when this hand came up. Russ had amassed a chip count of $1,070,000 and Hugh Vincent had $1,600,000. The players were dealt their pocket cards and Hamilton received pocket queens (QQ) and Hugh Vincent has a 10-9 off-suit. Hamilton decided to raise $150,000 and that was called by Vincent. The players were waiting for the flop and it came Q65, which left Hamilton with the top set and gave Vincent nothing. Both players end up checking and waited for the turn. The turn hits the 8, which gives Vincent a double-belly-buster straight draw (he will make the nut straight if a J or 7 hits on the river). Russ Hamilton decides to bet $400,000 and Vincent moves all-in on a semi-bluff. Hamilton decides to call and when the river hit the 8, Russ Hamilton had a full house and took home a critical pot in this tournament.

analysis

There were a few questionable decisions made by Vincent during the play of this hand. His first mistake was calling a big raise with a 10-9 off-suit, not a huge mistake but one nonetheless. This call cost him about 10% of his chip stack. Hamilton had the set after the flop and made a smart check which was the precursor for the action on the turn. Vincent checked and that was a good play as he could try to draw something on the turn. When Hamilton checked on the flop after a big raise pre-flop that meant one of two things: he either missed completely or he hit a big time hand. By Vincent checking on the flop and gaining absolutely zero info on what Hamilton had, makes his all-in move on the turn a real big mistake. Especially since Hamilton had already committed so much to the pot he wasn't going to lay it down.

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