Hand of the Week: My $220,000 Pot at the WSOP

Date: 2012.11.07 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

In 2002, after maintaining a great positive attitude through a terrible WSOP, I was ready to win the Main Event and the accompanying $2 million prize.  Monday and Tuesday (Day One and Day Two) I played as good as I could play, and I caught a lot of big hands as well.  I went smooth, Cadillac smooth in fact, from $10,000 right up to $127,000 without ever being low on chips or close to all-in.  I really thought that moving from 130 players down to 45 players on Day three would be a piece of cake.  And then…

…Hello, Meng La!

Wow, I had never met Meng “over the top” La before, but he was seated just to my left on Day Three and, believe me, this guy made Stu Ungar look like a slow player!  Meng proceeded to raise or re-raise like a mad man over the course of the day.  He raised, re-raised, or moved all-in almost twenty times in the first two hours.  This guy never folded his hand once he put a chip in!  How he survived that first two days playing that fast is a mystery to  me.

Usually, when someone plays that fast against me, I bust them by about the fifth move-in.  Be that as it may, I felt sure I’d bust Meng eventually; all I needed was time.  He was a thorn in my side, but eventually his chips would fit nicely in my stack.  Despite the fact that I felt like I’d been victim to a Meng onslaught, I still had $117,000 with sixty players left when this monster hand came up.

While I was focused on the Meng La show, a new player I had never seen before, Robert Varkonyi, came to our table and slipped into a seat.  I pretended like I didn’t notice him while I table-talked with Meng, but immediately I had a good read on him.  Reading people is my biggest strength in poker.  With the blinds at $1,200-$2,400 and the antes at $400 a player, Robert raised the pot to $8,000 to go, and I looked down at my pocket cards: Ah-Kh.

I felt that Varkonyi was weak, so I raised it $17,000 more.  And how did he respond?  He immediately announced “I’m all-in.”

All in!  I asked for a count, and it turned out that he had $81,400 in front of him.

With $56,000 already in the pot, I had a decision to make, but my mind kept screaming, “He has nothing!  You have to call because you know you have the best hand!!”  It was almost as if I really did “know” that he had nothing, and part of my mind said, “Now is the time.  You’re holding A-K suited, Phil!”  After less than a minute I called, and he flipped up Qc-10c… as if he was proud of his hand!!

For three grueling, studious days, I had avoided playing a big money pot, and now I was only a three-t0-two favorite for the money here.  So this is how it fell:  the flop came A-Q-10, obviously giving Robert two pairs to dominate my Ah-Kh.

The turn and the river were rags that did nothing for either of us, so Robert held his lead and won the hand.

So here’s the final analysis: my call was a little weak because I still could have won the tourney easily had I not made it (because I had $93,000), whereas, by losing the pot to Robert, I was knocked so far back that my Main Event dreams were virtually extinguished.  That’s the killer, playing impeccable poker for three days straight (so exhausting!) and getting knocked out with A-K suited.  Welcome to the game of poker.  But where do you draw the line?!  Do you fold when you feel you’re the favorite and your opponent is weak?  Maybe I could have folded back then, but in the 2010 WSOP Main Event I would make that call every time I felt weakness, because nowadays you need to win several all-in pots to win the tournament.

Honestly, I don’t like Robert’s play here at all.  Why would he risk all of his money with no hand, against someone who is known for reading players well?  Why not wait a mere ten minutes for a better hand or a better spot?  To me, he had an easy fold, and not only did he enter the pot… he moved all in!

However, it is now well-known that Robert — his chip stack now enhanced with my chips too — played out the tournament pretty well that year (2002) and went on to win the whole thing and $2 million.  Congrats, Robert!