Breaking Down the Biggest 2025 WSOP Hands – Part 8

Day 1A – Moneymaker Needed a Bigger Boat

The 2003 WSOP Main Event Champ Chris Moneymaker found himself in a pot early on Day 1a with David Brown that proved disastrous for the ACR Pro. 

Here in level 2 with blinds at 200 and 300 with a 300 ante, Brown doubled the blind to 600 from the cutoff, and Moneymaker defended from the small blind. Brown continued the aggression with a 500 bet on the flop, to which Moneymaker called. The turn saw both check, but the river brought a 2500 bet from Chris, to which Brown raised up to 10k.  Moneymaker re-raised to 20k, and Brown shoved 47k, sending the former champ to the tank before calling off, collecting his things and taking poker’s walk of shame out of the room.

Clearly both players acted like they were trapping the other; Brown with the over-pair and Moneymaker with trip jacks.  Brown had no idea that he was drawing to one single Queen to win the hand – but his wish came true with the case queen on the river, putting Moneymaker is a horrible position with the second nuts and at risk of busting.  The action on the river was interesting – presumably Moneymaker was trying to get a call and not risking his entire stack, but when Brown re-raised, Moneymaker seemed resigned to the fact that he was against pocket queens – and he couldn’t fold it. 

Could you lay down jacks full in this spot?

Day 1A – Jaka Folds a Winner

One level later on day 1a, we find Faraz Jaka and Leland Postil in a hand that featured a raise and calls – Benjamin Gold also came along to the flop. 

Gold bet 3500 from middle position; Jaka called from the hijack but Postil check-raised to 8k from under the gun. Gold folded, but Jaka wanted to see more.  The turn brought a sizable bet from Postil – 15k – and Jaka folded face-up after tanking.  Postil showed his two cards as he collected the pot.

Jaka folded the second nut flush face-up without a pair on board. If Jaka puts Postil on the ace high flush, you can see how this is an easy fold but without a pair on board, you are restricting the range of your opponent significantly by putting them on Ace-something clubs. 

There are only seven combinations possible – and the number of possible hands he would have is much larger, so for Jaka to make a read like this, his gut better be solid. 

Turns out – Postil was betting hard protecting his set of sevens, far inferior to the flush but in this case aggression worked and Jaka sent a winner into the muck. Soon after, he sent the balance of his chips to another opponent to exit the main on day 1a.

Day 1B: The Mouth Shoves With the Nuts

Mike “The Mouth’ Matusow has had success over the years in the main event – final tabling it twice and cashing it several times in recent years, and on level 5 of day 1b, he tangled with Thomas Lee in a massive pot.

Matusow called a small raise from the small blind, where Lee was in the hijack and in position.  The two checked the flop, before Lee bet 3500 on the turn, which Matusow called.  On the river Lee bet 9,000 and Matusow raised all in.  Lee called and saw the bad news.

With Lee being the aggressor, pre-flop suited Matusow just fine with the flop he hit – not only does this favor his range, but his actual hand had Lee drawing dead to the entire pot and leaving him with only runner-runner to chop the pot. When the turn made both the flush, Lee appeared to be cooked as he bet into Matusow, and leaving himself only 25k behind, making Matusow’s raise reasonably easy to call off and sending him to the rail.

Day 1C – Bin Wang Channels Pete Weber

On Day 1c, Bin Wang and Scott Kahler battled in one heck of a pot – with Kahler in the cutoff to around 1,500, and Wang in the big blind three-bet to 6,000. 

The flop saw a check from Wang and a 4,500 bet from Kahler, inducing a call from Wang. The turn brought a 21k bet from Kahler, bringing Wang along to the river ,where Kahler shoved for 120k total. 

After considering the situation, Wang said “You guys don’t know who I am” and called – sending Kahler to the rail.

Wang’s three-bet range from the big blind probably doesn’t typically include Seven-Three of diamonds. What’s also more surprising is that he called off on the river with the second pair.  How many players do you know could not only three-bet with seven high out of position, but correctly deduce that your opponent missed all of the draws that hit & doesn’t have an ace to effectively make the call  and be right.

Kahler did everything he could to represent a big hand, but it wasn’t until the river that he finally saw a card that he really could represent, He underestimated the abilities of Wang though when he shoved over pot on that river, thinking there was a way he could get this through – especially with Wang’s three-bet pre. 

Everyone was a little taken aback when the cards were flipped over and everyone saw what Wang just did – as he raked in a massive six-figure pot.

Wang’s comment may also have been a reference to one of the greatest moments in bowling history when Pete Weber said “Who do you think you are?  I am” live on ESPN when he won the 2012 US Open and said it to a heckler in the audience.

Day 1D – Aces No Good for Jared Bleznick

Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for as Jared Bleznick played a monster hand in level 5 of day 1d against Romain Locquet. 

From early position, Locquet raised the 600 big blind up to 1,100 where Shawn Cunix three-bet to 2,600 immediately to Locquet’s left.  Bleznick entered the action when he four-bet from the big blind up to 5,200. 

• Locquet five-bet that up to 16,600 which led to Cunix getting out of the way of Bleznick’s six bet to 38k.
• Locquet flat called.
• Bleznick bet 30k on the flop, to which Locquet called.
• Bleznick jammed the turn for another 64k, leading Locquet to smile, and call.

The only better feeling you could have at the poker table after flopping top set – is turning quads and that is exactly what Locquet did here to Jared Bleznick. It’s tough to put your opponent on pocket nines when they are five-bet calling pre-flop as you wouldn’t expect nines to be in their range, but especially when the flop & turn both have nines. 

Bleznick clearly looked comfortable with a nine-high flop, most likely expecting to see pocket queens or kings, ace-king or maybe pocket aces, which would be highly unlikely when you have two of them in your hand

When Locquet smiled, one has to wonder if Bleznick realized what had happened, but it didn’t take long after to realize the horrible news as he was drawing absolutely dead before the river and didn’t even wait to see the last card before taking his mic off and walking away.

So many more good hands to come as we look back at the Main Event – the lead up to the money bubble comes up next!