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When you play poker, you're guaranteed to have some great moments. After all, you're constantly trying to figure out the best way to bluff your opponent or the best time to raise so you can get the most money from your opponents.
Sometimes, however, those great moments happen without any forethought. They come as a surprise, and everyone can laugh at the night's end. These are the top 10 unforgettable poker moments:
The WSOP Poker Moments
The World Series of Poker is a succession of events running for over fifty years in the entertainment and gambling industry. These events discovered many great poker players that showed a lot of unforgettable poker moments. Seasoned and young professional poker players experienced the involvement of large amounts of money.
The popularity of the WSOP produced many tournament winners, including the youngest to receive a bracelet and single chip winners. There's so much money at stake for every tournament, and it is an excellent venue for these famous professional poker players with skills that create exciting poker moments.
1. Johnny Chan Poker Moments
Johnny Chan is an immigrant from China, and he struggled throughout his life before he became a professional poker player. His family never wanted him to be a professional poker player, but this is the path on which he would succeed.
He grew up in Guangzhou, China, and then migrated to Hong Kong with his family when he was six. At age ten, they moved to America and settled in Phoenix. They eventually started a restaurant business in Houston. Chan wasn't able to speak English properly when they arrived in the United States, but he learned fast when he went to school. He also learned how to play bowling as he adapted to American culture.
Johnny Chan pursued a career in professional poker and succeeded in winning many major tournaments. He also became an actor in movies such as Rounders (1998), Luck You (2007), and Poker King (2009). His success in 1998 was because of his movie Rounders and winning the Main Event in the poker world. He played a slow and steady game to win his second Main Event title, which added to one of his unforgettable poker moments.
2. Phil Hellmuth – Main Event's Youngest Winner
Phil Hellmuth is a successful professional poker player who won 15 World Series Poker bracelets. He was only 24 years old in 1989 when he faced Johnny Chan heads-up, which became one of the unforgettable poker moments of his career. Hellmuth also won the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event in Europe, and he showcased his poker skills against other professional players. His net worth reached $20 million with great poker moments.
Hellmuth is the record-holder for the most WSOP final tables and WSOP cash and is known for taking his seat early before the poker tournament starts. Johnny Chan eliminated him in the 1988 World Series of Poker event, in which he finished 33rd. He got back at Johnny the following year and defeated him in the Main Event of the WSOP. Hellmuth also became the WSOP's second player to receive three bracelets.
3. Bill Boyd's Career
Bill Boyd is one of the greatest 5-card stud players in gambling history. He was able to beat ten poker players in a $1000 entry event in 1971. Boyd won again in a $10,000-limit 5-card stud tournament the following year. Boyd also added another one of the unforgettable poker moments in the industry when he won the 1973 $10,000-limit 5-card stud event, in which he was the only new player. It made the event the minor WSOP event in history, and it was the last time the WSOP organizers allowed a limit 5-card stud event.
4. Jamie Gold Triumphs
Jamie Gold is a successful person with many ventures, such as being a casino operator, celebrity manager, talent agent, marketing specialist, family office advisor, TV personality, and philanthropist. He also emceed, hosted, and worked with 360 major charity events with the help of world icons, leaders, and celebrities that supported raising $600 million in donations for worldwide causes. Most of his charity events are for ALS commitment, to commemorate his father's death of the said disease.
Jamie Gold is famous worldwide, especially among many professional poker players and gamers. He was victorious in the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2006 against 8,773 participants. The event had an $87 million prize pool, with $12 million as the first-place prize. It is the largest prize in the history of the WSOP Main Event, making it one of the most unforgettable poker moments.
5. Jack “Treetop” Strauss (Chip and a Chair)
Jack “Treetop” Straus is from San Antonio, Texas, and used to play basketball with his impressive 6'6″ build. His tall structure was the reason people called him “Treetop.” Jack is a very aggressive poker player and takes advantage of his opponents' weaknesses once he sees the signs. His attack strategy would lead him to bust out, but most of the time, he wins a lot.
Jack Straus was different from other poker players who made bets with calculated risks. He enjoys the thrill of gambling and would go all in most of the time rather than having weak hands. At one event, he had a “chip and a chair” occasion, one of the industry's most unforgettable poker moments.
People know that while he puts his chips in the middle of the table, he is not declaring ‘all in,' and keeps his leftover chips under a napkin. He was able to recover from a loss and won the 1982 WSOP. It was one of his poker moments when he realized he still had the chip that he used as a card protector.
6. Stu Ungar's Win #3
Stu Ungar was an American professional poker player and probably the best player in history. He was able to take home the three WSOP Main Event titles on different occasions (1980, 1981, and 1997). Stu also had two WSOP bracelets in two events: 2-7 Draw in 1981 and Seven Card Stud in 1983, all iconic poker moments in history.
Stu Ungar earned the nickname “The Kid” for his youthful looks made him look younger. His talent and recall ability helped him be a successful professional poker player and play gin rummy and blackjack. He dominated most of his gin rummy games because of his ability to forecast and play skills.
Stu died in November 1998 because of a heart condition caused by drug abuse. In 1991, he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame.
7. Annette Obrestad – Youngest Bracelet Winner
Annette Obrestad started playing poker at a very young age and started to manage her bankroll with her online winnings. In 2006, she stopped going to school to play poker and eventually won in the 2006 UltimateBet Aruba Poker Classic Championship Event. She was able to finish 37th and took home $12,415.
Annette won the WSOP Europe Main Event the day before her 19th birthday, where she became the youngest poker player to become a WSOP title holder, which belongs to the unforgettable poker moments in history. She was also a runner-up in the EPT Dublin Main Event in 2007. Annette also gained many sponsors from poker sites and had the opportunity to travel around the world to play poker. She would regularly compete in the Late Night Poker and partypoker Premier League in the 2000s.
Despite her successful career in playing poker, Obrestad said that she lost her interest in the game and played less in the late 2010s. She later ventured into putting up her makeup Youtube channel, Annette's Makeup Corner.
8. Johnny Moss's – First Player To Win the WSOP
Johnny Moss grew up in Texas and learned to earn money by playing dominos and selling newspapers. He later became a “cheat catcher” in poker games, where he works in catching players who cheat at the tables. He then began playing hold'em with other poker players.
The first World Series of Poker created some anomalies in the game's history. Since the freezeout format was implemented, poker players needed to join a cash game inspired by the match between Nick “The Greek” Dandalos and Johnny Moss in the 1940s.
The concept of the game was to assign the winner after two cycles of voting. Johnny Moss became the winner after all ten players voted themselves as the best player, making Moss the second best. Moss also won the 1971 first freezeout event.
Johnny Moss was known as ‘The Gand Old Man of Poker' and holds nine World Series bracelets. His winnings include WSOP Main Events in 1970, 1971, and 1974, which only Stu Ungar was able to match. Moss was inaugurated in 1979 at the Poker Hall of Hame.
Final Thoughts
These are some of the unforgettable poker moments in the history of the game. Professional poker players displayed skills, determination, and courage in taking risks to win against other players. Great moments in poker games are unpredictable and thrilling. Knowing about these poker moments that significantly impacted the industry is exciting.
