Three Great Live Reported Hands: Moneymaker and GSP in the Main Event

April 21, 2019

This is Volume 9 of an ongoing series in which PokerNews will look back on some of the most memorable hands recorded in the long history of live reporting on this site. To read more about the concept and which hands make the cut, check out Volume 1.

Chris Moneymaker Calls it Off in the Main

Chris Moneymaker made his name in the World Series of Poker Main Event, so he was, of course, a player of prime interest in PokerNews' live reporting of the event for all subsequent years. In 2010's WSOP Main, Moneymaker played a notable hand on Day 2 that saw him face a decision for his entire stack.

It was Level 8 (400/800/100) and Moneymaker was seated at the feature table. It was certainly featured at this point, as all of the other tables had pretty much emptied to go on break, leaving Moneymaker locking horns with Bryan Pellegrino.

The board read 4♣10♥8♦8♠7♥ and Moneymaker had bet 8,100 into a pot of around 20,000. The minutes dragged on into the break as the gathered crowd waited to see what Pellegrino would do. According to the live reporting Pellegrino was seemingly in the tank for 10 minutes.

Finally, Moneymaker announced he'd have to call the clock.

"I said I'm all in!" Pellegrino said, sending the situation a twist. "I was going to call the clock on you, but I didn't want to."

Apparently, Pellegrino had declared all in without anyone realizing it. Now, it was Moneymaker facing a decision for all of his chips, about 50,000. He didn't take long to decide.

"OK, if you got lucky, you got lucky," he said, putting his chips in and tabling A♦10♣.

Pellegrino's cards were never even turn over as he just fired them into the muck to send the double to the former champ.

World Champ Fires the Main, Busts Early

Back in 2012, mixed martial arts legend Georges "Rush" St-Pierre was near the height of his powers, coming off nine extremely dominant victories, the last six of which were title defenses of his welterweight crown. He was only fighting once or twice per year by then, so evidently he had time for a promotional appearance at the WSOP, including announcing the shuffle and deal before Day 1b of the Main Event.

GSP hopped into the Main as well, but the admitted novice wouldn't get much going. During Level 2 (100/200), St-Pierre was already under 5,000, and when the flop came 9♥10♠4♥, he committed 1,700 to call a bet from Stephan Patz. On the J♣ turn, the two got the rest of St-Pierre's 2,125 in.

GSP: J♥8♥
Patz: J♦J♠

St-Pierre's pair was worthless but his draw was very live. Unfortunately for him, he'd hit a worthless two pair on the river to go bust.

It's still the only knockout he's experienced of late, as St-Pierre would go on to win his final four fights, including a title moving up in weight to middleweight, before retiring earlier this year.

Prelude to a Marathon

While GSP's appearance made headlines early at the 2012 WSOP Main Event, what most people really remember about that event is the epic three-handed war that took place on the final day of the tournament before Greg Merson was crowned world champion. What fewer might remember is that Russell Thomas was the man eliminated to kick off that infamous marathon.

It was Level 37 (300,000/600,000/75,000) and Day 8 had already stretched past midnight. On the 135th hand of the final table, action folded to Thomas in the small blind and he raised to 1.5 million. Jake Balsiger, in the big blind, moved all in for 15,825,000 effective. Thomas took some thinking time and called.

Balsiger: A♠K♣
Thomas: A♥9♦

Thomas found himself in need of a three-outer to stay alive. The 8♣Q♥5♥5♦ gave him a chance for a chop if he could find a queen or eight on the river, but the 7♥ closed out the day and sent Thomas out fourth for $2.8 million.

Little did the final three players know, they had over 260 hands still ahead of them in a final table that would stand in the record books as the longest until 2018.

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