A Few Famous Poker Hands
Even with the decline in the number of US players due to current US legislation it seams that everyone loves poker. From the number of online poker rooms, the players that play free online poker and the many tournaments is is clear that the poker boom of the last decade (both online and landbased) is still in effect. There are many new stories about (in)famous poker hands, bad beats and great feats of victory but in my opinion the most famous hands are those that have stood the test of time. My two favorites are “Dead Mans Hand” and “Texas Dolly”- those and a few others are the main topics here.
Texas Dolly
Three decades ago more precisely in 1976 and 1977 now poker lengend Doyle Brunson won the World Series of Poker twice in a row. The tournament back then was a lot smaller than the thousand of players in the WSOP and large online poker tournaments these days so you might not think much of this but that would be wrong. Doyle bested a field of the worlds best players twice and that is still a great feat. The strange thing and the reason for the hands fame - is that he had the same two hole cards in the final hand each year the T2 (Ten Two). Not generally a starting hand you would choose to play and statistically very unlikely (especially since it ended up a full house both times)
Doyle played against Jesse Alto in 1976 whose final hand was an Ace-Jack. Doyle had T2s (Ten Two of spades). Doyle must have thought he could out play Jesse on the flop because he called Jesses raise before the flop with a measly Ten Two. Actually a very typical move for Doyle with his Power Poker playing style. The flop, A-J-10, gives Alto a very strong hand top two pair and he must have been pleased when Doyle moves all in. Alto calls and is happy to see Brunsons middle pair hand. The turn (a deuce) gives Doyle 4 outs but Alto is still confident when the river shows a Ten and it is all over. A devastating blow for Alto who loses to Doyles full house (Tens full of Twos).
The year after the match up is Doyle against Bones Berland. Doyle again having the T2 in the final hand. Bones hole cards are 85 and with these poor starting hands there is no action pre flop. The flop (T85) leaves Bones in a good postion with two pair and Doyle having top pair. Bones tries to get maximum value by trapping but the play backfires when the turn card is a 2 giving Doyle the best two pair hand. Both players are all in on the turn and the river is a Ten not helping Bones. Doyle has won again with the same full house as the previous year, Tens and Twos.
Dead Mans Hand
In 1874 gold were discovered in the Black Hills and a settlement quickly formed. This rough and unlawful place became known as Deadwood and it quickly grew in size over the next few years attracting all sorts of people looking to get rich the “easy” way. The town of Deadwood is a typical example of what we today consider a classic Wild West setting.
James Butler Hickok (better known as Wild Bill Hickok) a famous western character was one of the many people that had been attracted to Deadwood by 1876. The now booming town were a dangerous place be with plenty of rough types and very little in terms of respect for the law. Actually the law were barely present and Hickok might have been in town looking for a job as the town Sheriff! On August 2nd a friendly poker game proved fatal for Hickok. He was playing draw poker in a local saloon when a man walked up behind him and shot Bill in the back of the head. Bill fell down, instantly killed, holding the cards A-A-8-8-x. The last card might have been a Queen or maybe discarded, details are unclear. This hand later got the name “Dead Mans Hand” as a specific reference to the death of Wild Bill Hickok. Many superstitious poker players avoid this hand is at all possible today
The amount of non-poker related references to Wild Bills death are also huge. Songs, TV shows, games and poker books are just some of the places you can see references. Most are used commercially which cant really surprise anyone these days. If you are interested in specific references (some are pretty interesting) have a look at this Wikipedia page.
Source: www.buzzle.com