02 Mar 2013
Posted by admin 
DDuring the heyday of Pokerstars and Full Tilt there was an abundance of poker on television (the ad spending of these two companies alone made it profitable to produce multitudes of poker shows for TV). For the consumer this meant hours upon hours of poker to watch. Poker was regularly televised on ESPN, FOX, NBC and GSN to just name a few. ADANAI has gone through hundreds of hours of poker footage to find examples of sick bluffs, hero calls, huge pots and just all around great poker. Not surprisingly, there are appearances from the likes of Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Patrik Antonius, Mike Matusow and Sammy Farha. In that spirit, ADANAI humbly offers the Top Ten Greatest Televised Poker Hands of All Time.
Top 10 Greatest Televised Poker Hands of All Time.
- 10
Phil Hellmuth vs JC Tran
Category: Sick Call
Phil Hellmuth gets a lot of press for his antics and tantrums. It is often forgotten how good a poker player he is. In fact, he is easily one of the top 5 tournament poker players of all time (his 13 World Series of Poker bracelets support that claim). In this hand, Hellmuth shows off his amazing ability to read people. What is amazing about this hand is that it does not take very long for him to figure out exactly where he stood. - 9
Daniel Negreanu Mind Tricks
Category: Sick Bluff
People often talk about what differentiates a professional poker player from an amateur. There are a lot of differences but one major edge for professionals is an innate ability to manipulate their opponent and their actions. In this hand, Negreanu gets his opponent to fold the best hand by stating out loud what he thinks his opponent is holding and following up with a bet. It would have taken some serious next level thinking (and balls of steel) to interpret Negreanu's move as just that - a move. - 8
Sammy Farha vs. Patrik Antonius
Category: Huge pot
Leave it to two of the poker world's biggest gamblers to play a $1 million pot with top pair vs. a flush draw. The hand itself is fairly straight forward but it is the banter during this High Stakes Poker hand that makes it so memorable. Farha is one of the most entertaining poker players to ever hit the little screen as his table talk is just priceless (not to mention his willingness to gamble). Antonius is famous for his comfort playing at the highest stakes and he does not disappoint here. - 7
Phil Ivey vs. Tom Dwan
Category: Huge pot
Phil Ivey is generally considered the best poker player in the world. It isn't a surprise that he will pop up several times in this top 10 list. Tom Dwan is no slouch himself and is definitely one of the more fearless poker players to hit the felt. When the two of them collide, fireworks generally ensue. This hand does not disappoint as they manage to get $1.1 million into the pot. - 6
Phil Hellmuth taking it on the chin
Category: Bad Beat
ADANAI loves Phil Hellmuth so it hurts to put this in the top 10 but this is really fun hand to watch. It comes from a show called The Big Game where an amateur player plays against professionals. The amateur is staked $100,000 and gets to keep everything over $100,000 after they play 150 hands. If the amateur has anything less than $100,000 they go home with nothing. Hellmuth gets his money in good against the amateur but things don't necessarily work out that well and the other professionals seem to get a real kick out of Hellmuth's misfortune. - 5
Phil Ivey has serious skills
Category: Sick Bluff
Whether it is the flu game against Utah in the NBA Finals for Michael Jordan, the 2008 Olympic games for Michael Phelps (who happens to be a pretty damn good poker player) or the chip in at Augusta for Tiger Woods, the greatest all have their signature moments. While there is no one iconic poker hand for Phil Ivey - this is a damn good contender. In this hand, Ivey shows off his ability to read an opponent and take advantage of weakness. Ivey smells a rat and his aggressive play is the rat killer. Enjoy! - 4
Sammy Farha vs. Jamie Gold
Category: Huge pot
Once again Sammy Farha shows why he is so great for television. In this hand he is paired up with another fun TV personality - Jamie Gold. Gold won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2006 for a record $12 million. ESPN fell in love with Gold early on during the WSOP coverage that year because his table banter was solid gold. In this hand Farha and Gold have the dreaded Aces vs. Kings showdown and both players have some fun with it. In most situations this would be a rather boring hand to watch but with Farha and Gold in the mix it is pure entertainment. - 3
Phil Ivey vs. Jason Mercier
Category: Sick Call
How good is Phil Ivey? Jason Mercier plays this hand so well but still manages to lose his entire stack to Ivey. Many professionals in Ivey's position would have thrown away his hand but this is why he isn't just a professional - he is the best. Kudos to Mercier for trying a $250,000 bluff but maybe he should try this kind of tomfoolery against someone else next time. - 2
Phil Hellmuth vs. Mike Matusow
Category: Sick Bluff
Compare this hand to hand #3 between Phil Ivey and Jason Mercier. Phil Hellmuth accomplishes what Mercier was trying to do. People like to talk poorly about Hellmuth's cash game play but as displayed here, he has some serious skills. Matusow makes a very professional fold (very few amateurs would be able to make this kind of fold) but unfortunately for him was on the wrong side of a great play. - 1
Phil Ivey vs. Tom Dwan
Category: Sick Bluff
This is poker at its best. Anytime you put Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan at a poker table with a lot of money in front of them, great thing are going to happen. Dwan runs a sick bluff against Ivey, the best player in the world. Ivey smells a rat but does not have a good enough hand to make the call. In fact, it is Ivey's deliberation that makes this hand such a classic. Ironically, this hand was only moments after the Ivey vs. Jason Mercier hand at #3 where Mercier tried something similar against Ivey. Gabe Kaplan is doing the play by play and does an amazing job of taking the viewer through the hand. That being said, this hand speaks for itself and is a thing of beauty.
