All poker players can learn a valuable lesson from this edition of 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Hands of the Week, and that is to never celebrate until your opponent is drawing stone-dead.
The PokerNews Live Reporting Team has been busy capturing all the action in our live updates, and they’ve witnessed some hands go down that proved to be either entertaining, game-changing or just flat out brutal.
Below is a look at some of the best hands of the week from the 2023 WSOP!
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Celebrating Preflop?
Your hand isn’t a winner until your opponent has exactly a 0% chance of winning. That’s a lesson Andreas Kniep learned, or at least we hope he did, at the final table of Event #53: $1,500 Millionaire Maker.
Patrick Leonard clipped the action from the PokerGO live-stream and shared it on Twitter. In the hand, Pavel Plesuv had moved all in with A♦2♦ and had a much larger stack than Kniep, who was holding A♠A♥.
When the action returned to Kniep, he stood up, picked his cards up so he could flash them to his rail, and began chanting, “put the cameras out,” whatever that’s supposed to mean in this context, before exposing his cards to Plesuv. He then celebrated with his rail as if the hand was over. Unfortunately, for the poker player who was attempting to become a millionaire, there were still five cards to come.
The flop came out 3♠5♠10♥, giving Plesuv a gut-shot straight draw, but the 4♠ on the turn completed the straight. Still, Kniep could win the hand with a spade on the river, however, the final card was the 7♦ and the aces were officially cracked. Plesuv would go on to win the bracelet for $1.2 million, while Kniep was out in fourth place and took home just over $500,000.
Kessler Rolled Up in Stud-8, Still Can’t Win Pot
If it seems like Allen Kessler suffers a ton of bad beats, it’s because he shares them all on social media. During Event #63: $10,000 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo Championship, the habitual min-casher had a rough hand that he’d probably like to forget.
His hand began with 8x8x in the hole and 8x face-up, making him rolled up. Despite being in a great position through the first three cards dealt, he didn’t seem to like the next three cards — 2x4x5x — even though he had trips and was drawing to an eight low.
That’s because Perry Friedman’s exposed cards were showing JxKxJxJx, which of course is superior to the trip eights. It was possible that Kessler was drawing dead or would have required hitting a card to fill up for the high pot and would have needed a non-pairing low card on seventh street to claim the low pot. So, he ended up folding to a bet on sixth street.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kessler groaned about the bad beat.
“If it makes you feel any better, you’re lucky you didn’t fill up,” Friedman said ominously.
Being Rolled Up No Help to Chino Rheem Either
Kessler wasn’t the only player who was rolled up and couldn’t win the pot in that same $10,000 stud hi-lo tournament. On Day 3, Chino Rheem had 2x2x in the hole and 2x face-up. He’d then add 9x8x4x for his next three cards and then was forced to fold on sixth street, much like Kessler.
In the almost exact same scenario, Rheem was up against exposed superior trips. Joao Vieira’s board was showing AxAx5x, and his bet convinced Rheem to fold at that point. It was a wise decision because the rolled up deuces was drawing dead when Vieira showed off the Ax he had in the hole.
“That third ace saved you a lot of money,” Bryn Kenney, the eventual runner-up, told Rheem.
“I didn’t even like the second one,” Rheem replied.
Rheem would go on to finish in fifth place ($79,189), while Vieira took eighth place ($35,826).
Chasing a Draw with a Bracelet on the Line
The final table in Event #58: $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em (6-Handed) was quite a doozy. Jason Daly, who held the chip lead, was heads-up against Brent Mutter, and the pay jump from first to second place was $102,132 to $102,132.
With a bracelet and over $60,000 extra up for grabs, Mutter raised it up on the button with 2♠2♦ and Daly defended from the big blind with 5♣3♣. The flop came out 7♦4♣2♦, which was pretty much the juiciest flop imaginable.
Daly checked bottom set, while his opponent bet the open-ended straight flush draw. That resulted in a check-raise, followed by a three-bet, a four-bet, and then an all-in jam and call. The turn was a harmless 9♦ but the 6♣ gave Daly the straight flush. What a way to win a World Series of Poker bracelet.
Another Draw Versus Set Situation
This hand was quite similar to the one above, although it took place on Day 1, not at the final table, of Event #70: $400 Colossus. In the hand, Paul Benade went flopped a set of aces but still had to sweat it out against his opponent, whose name wasn’t known.
On a flop of 10♦K♦A♠, Benade was all in with pocket aces against a player holding A♦J♦ top pair and a royal flush draw. Needing to fade a diamond or a queen, Benade watched the 5♦ appear on the turn, completing the flush. But the 10♠ on the river paired the board and the pocket aces held up to scoop a huge early pot.
Check out some of our past “Hands of the Week” recaps: