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We here at Bluff are very proud of our magazine and our product, and this prompts us to wear a lot of Bluff gear at the poker tables. Most of the time, the Bluff-emblazoned logo is a great addition; sometimes, however, it can cause a few lost pots. When bluffing, I have often heard, “I wouldn’t have called if you didn’t have Bluff written all over you.” (Maybe it’s time to wear some less conspicuous clothing at the tables.) So what does this have to do with anything? Well, we want to give a big shout-out to the bluff. One of the key components of anyone’s game, a bluff can make you feel like a god or like the worst poker player in the world. So here we have it, Bluff’s ten greatest bluffs of all time
# 10
Howard Lederer bluffs Gabe Kaplan
Event: Poker After Dark
Hands: Howard Lederer – T♠7♠, Gabe Kaplan - Q♠J♠
Howard Lederer raises it pre-flop to $1,200 and Kaplan calls. The flop comes 2♦A♥8♥. Lederer bets $1,300 and Kaplan calls. The turn is the 2♥, and now Kaplan leads for $3,000 and Lederer calls, setting up a play for the river. The river is the A♦. Kaplan checks, Lederer bets $3,500, and Kaplan instafolds.
While this hand might not seem especially remarkable, it is a perfect example of how keen and aware “The Professor” is in every hand he plays. Neither player hits on the flop and Lederer makes a standard continuation bet. Kaplan “floats” (calling with a weak hand looking to take it away later.) Lederer bites and checks on the flop and Kaplan fires a bet with his queen-high, thinking he will take the pot right there. Lederer senses the move and just calls, looking to take it away on the river. Kaplan gives up when he blanks on the river and Lederer makes a small bet into the pot and picks up dead money. A very smart and correct read by the man who made his reputation doing exactly that.
#9
Tony G bluff Surinder Sunar
Event: WPT Paris Main Event
Hands: Tony G – 8♦4♦, Surinder Sunar - Q♣9♠
Surinder limps pre-flop. Tony G checks while claiming he does not have a bad hand. The flop is 6♠2♣9♣ and Tony G had checked blind, so Surinder fires out $36,000. Tony talks a little before raising to $104,000. The turn is the 5♠ and Tony leads out for $201,000 and says, “You gotta like it, it’s a nice bet, a sweet bet, and it’s not much…” and Surinder eventually calls. The river brings the 4♥ and Tony goes all in for $651,000 and Surinder folds. Tony G goes on one of his trademark rants and Surinder looks a little bit shook by the whole ordeal.
The sweetest aspect of this bluff was that Tony G set it up before he even looked at his hand. When Surinder flopped top pair, he laid the bait for Tony by only betting a small amount in comparison to the pot. Tony took the bait and raised it up. We here at Bluff were ready for Surinder to shove the rest of those chips into the center pf the pot in a heartbeat, but he didn’t; he just called. Tony continued to fire bullets on the turn, and on the river, simultaneously spewing more trash talk than they are accustomed to in Paris. Surinder didn’t have the heart to call and Tony made sure everyone knew that he certainly did. This hand got our vote, quite frankly, because we would all love to be Tony G. The accent alone puts a scare into opponents.
# 8
Todd Brunson bluffs Daniel Negreanu
Event: High Stakes Poker, Hands: Todd Brunson – J♣8♣, Sammy Farha - K♣5♦, Daniel Negreanu - A♠9♥
Blinds $300/$600 (cash game). Pre-flop, Brunson bumps it to $1,600, and Farha and Negreanu call. The flop comes 5♣J♠5♠ and all players check it. The turn is the 9♠ and Sammy leads out for $10,000 with his trips. Both Negreanu and Brunson call behind him. The river is Qs, putting four spades on the board. Farha checks and Negreanu checks his nut flush behind him. Brunson bets $21,000, Farha folds, and Negreanu replays the hand in his mind, goes through all the cards that Todd could potentially have. Farha says, “This could be a good poker lesson.” After much thought, Negreanu folds and Todd shows the 8♣.
If one thing is for sure, Todd Brunson confused the hell out of Daniel Negreanu in this hand. Todd played the hand so passively after raising pre-flop that Daniel figured him for a monster hand. On a board like J-5-5, you will usually see a continuation bet from the pre-flop raiser unless he is extremely weak or extremely strong. However, Todd is probably just keeping the pot small, knowing Sammy and Daniel both to be players who could have a five. When Brunson just calls the bet on the turn, Daniel must have read him for being incredibly strong instead of incredibly weak, and that is why he checked the river when it brought him the nut flush. When Todd bluffs the river with no spade, the only hand that makes sense for Todd to have is a full house. Daniel knows that Todd doesn’t have the A♠, and therefore he could be betting into it. For this reason, Daniel concludes Todd must be able to beat a flush and lays it down. An excellent read on the situation picks up the nice-sized pot for Brunson.
# 7
Phil Ivey bluffs David Benyamine and Patrik Antonius
Event: Aussie Millions Cash Game 2007,
Hands: Patrik Antonius – 9♠9♥, David Benyamine - T♠T♦, Phil Ivey - 6♥4♦
Antonius raises to $2,000 and is reraised behind him by Benyamine to $7,000. In the blinds, Ivey looks down at his trash hand and pops it up to $18,000. Antonius thinks a bit and folds, but Benyamine sticks around. The flop comes down K♥9♦J♥, Ivey fires $37,000 into the pot, and Benyamine folds. What a dream spot. First pot of the day, Patrik raises it up, David Benyamine re-raises, and you look down at 6-4 off-suit. I think if you asked one million people what they would do in that spot, not one of them would have done what Phil Ivey did, which was to re-reraise. Are you serious, Phil, or is this game not big enough to pique your interest? Antonius folded, and Benyamine called. With the flop bringing a nine and two overs, both Patrik, who would have flopped a set, and David, whose tens were most likely no good, ended up getting the worst of it as Ivey scooped the first pot of the day, while sheepishly looking back at is 6-4. Lindgren jokes that Ivey had told him that he was going to do that with any two cards on the first hand and he might not have been lying. Just another day in the life of Phil Ivey.
# 6
Michael Demichele bluffs Eric Crain
Event: 2006 US Poker Championships
Hands: Demichele: K♥Q♥, Crain: 8♠6♠
Pre-flop, Demichele raises to $3,500 and gets a call from Eric Crain. The flop comes 7♣9♦2♥ and both players check. The turn is the 5♠ and Demichele checks and Craig bets 5,000. Demichele raises to 15,000 and Crain does not hesitate long before raising 40,000 more. Demichele studies and pushes all in. Crain says, “This is what it feels like to be on national TV with your pants down,” and folds. Demichele, who would go on to finish second in this event, is one of the bright young players to emerge from playing a lot on the internet. He makes a standard raise pre-flop and is called by Crain, who has a mountain of chips and has been playing a lot of pots. Neither flop anything and check the flop. Crain picks up a gutshot on the turn and tries to steal the pot when it is checked to him. Demichele knows something is up and raises him. While this raise would take the pot against most players, the big-stacked Craig decided to use his chips to put the heat on Michael and reraised him. Demichele must have made an excellent read because he shipped the remainder of his chips in with king-high, which was actually a big favorite going to the river. Crain joked with the cameras and took it well before tossing his cards in to the muck.
#5
Scotty Nguyen bluffs Sammy Farha
Event: 2003 WSOP Main Event
Hands: Scotty Nguyen – A♥J♦, Sammy Farha - K♦Q♦
The board is 6♠5♦9♦Q♠. Farha leads out with $30,000 and Nguyen calls.The river makes the board 6♠5♦9♦Q♠3♣. Farha leads out, Nguyen immediately raises the size of the pot, and Farha folds. Nguyen shows his bluff to the crowd, but not to Farha. If you go through the 2003 World Series of Poker coverage, you will see a lot of classic Scotty Ngyuen moments. A fun one, he bluffed Humberto Brenes out of a pot with a 3-8 off-suit, and claimed he thought they were playing blackjack. That hand didn’t make the list. This hand took place a bit deeper in the tournament, and once again Sammy Farha laid down the best hand. Scotty, usually talkative at the table, raised the river with nothing but ace-high, and then smirked. Sammy, sitting with his top pair, mucked his hand rather quickly, saying he laid down a big hand. When Scotty showed the hand to the camera, but not to the players, Sammy seemed rattled and said: “All right, Scotty, we are going to war.” It didn’t seem to affect Sammy too much, as he went on to finish second in the Main Event.
# 4
Brad Booth bluffs Phil Ivey
Event: High Stakes Poker
Hands: Phil Ivey – K♥K♦, Brad Booth - 4♠2♠
David Williams raises to $1,800 and Booth makes it $5,800 total. Ivey then reraises to a total of $14,000 and Williams folds. Booth thinks and asks Ivey how much he has behind. This is very early on in the game. Phil has $280k left and Booth calls. Flop: 3♦7♠6♦. Ivey bets $23,000. Brad Booth raises all in, putting Ivey all in by putting $300k in cash in the pot. Ivey says that he wished that Booth had put chips in because the cash looks so sweet. After much thought, Ivey folds. This hand surely shocked many viewers at home when Ivey folded his kings, way in the lead of Booth’s 4-2. Let’s take a look at the hand more closely. The blinds are $300/$600 and both players sit with around $300k. This means each player has nearly 500 big blinds, which is extremely deep-stacked poker. Booth makes an aggressive reraise pre-flop with the 4♠2♠, the kind of play he is known to make with hands like this. Ivey re-pops him with the kings, and Booth decides to call, knowing that if he hits the flop hard, he might win an extra $275,000 from Ivey. The flop is exactly the kind of flop Ivey might be scared of as Booth is calling with most small pairs and suited connectors. Ivey makes the correct bet to get information and Booth ships all his money in with his gutshot straight draw. The hands Ivey is most worried about are A-A, 7-7, 6-6, and 3-3. Ivey also knows Booth can have some straight and flush draws here, but probably not enough to make up for when he is drawing almost dead. Ivey decides not to risk $300k in this spot and lets it go. Booth’s bluff worked to perfection and he took the almost $50k in the pot.
# 3
Paul Wasicka bluffs Allen Cunningham
Event: 2006 WSOP Main Event Final Table
Hands: Paul Wasicka – K♦Q♦, Jamie Gold - K♣7♣, Allen Cunningham - T♥T♣
Cunningham raises to $800,000 from under the gun and Gold and Wasicka call. Flop - A♥J♥9♥. All three players check. Turn makes board A♥J♥9♥A♣. Gold checks and Wasicka bets $1,000,000. Cunningham ponders and raises to $3,975,000 total. Wasicka moves in and Cunningham lets it go. Wasicka shows the bluff and the crowd erupts.
This is another spot where it’s not so much the move that is impressive, but the situation. I don’t think there are many of us out there with the stones to make this move at the Final Table of the World Series of Poker, against the most skilled, accomplished player at the table. This hand completely changed the dynamic at the table. On a very dangerous board, with Cunningham raising under the gun, checking the flop, and then check-raising the turn, how can you feel good about your K-Q? Wasicka must have had a pretty good read on Allen in this spot. Not only was it a huge lift to the stack and spirits of the then-amateur unknown Paul Wasicka, but it also took a nice dent out of Cunningham’s stack. It definitely changed the landscape of the table, and was no doubt a key reason Paul went on to finish second in the Main Event.
# 2
Phil Ivey bluffs Paul Jackson
Event: Monte Carlo Millions
Hands: Phil Ivey – Q♥8♥, Paul Jackson - 6♠5♦
Phil Ivey starts this hand with a 4 to 1 chip lead. The blinds are $6,000/$12,000. Jackson limps in pre-flop and Ivey raises it $60,000 more. Jackson calls. Flop: 7♣J♣J♥. Jackson checks, Ivey bets $80,000, and Jackson raises it to $170,000. Ivey studies for a while and reraises it, $240,000 to go. Jackson doesn’t take too long before putting out $300,000 in chips, building the pot to nearly $1,000,000. Ivey studies for a while, asking Jackson how many chips he has left. Jackson replies that he has $380,000; Ivey puts him all in and Jackson folds. For the quality of bluffs, there is probably no argument that this one is the all-time great. If we could include multiple bluffs for one hand, this one might have made a few different spots on the list. The video has traveled all over the internet and has generated massive response, propelling Ivey’s fame and fanfare to unbelievable levels. What is going on in each player’s head is difficult to say, but the fifth bet Ivey makes to put Jackson all in with queen-high surely tells us that Ivey had a perfect read on the situation. What is almost equally amazing is that Jackson must also have had an amazing read as he put in a fourth bet with six high, perhaps having a read on the player that most deem unreadable.
# 1
Chris Moneymaker bluffs Sammy Farha
Event: Heads-Up, 2003 WSOP Main Event Final Table
Hands: Moneymaker – K♠7♥, Farha – Q♠9♥
On the flop comes 9♠2♦6♠, and both players check. On the turn the board is 9♠2♦6♠8♠. Farha bets $300,000, Moneymaker raises to $800,000 total, and Farha immediately calls. The river makes the board 9♠2♦6♠8♠3♥. Farha tells Moneymaker, “We said it would be over soon,” and Moneymaker doesn’t move or speak in reply. Farha checks and Moneymaker pushes all in with his kinghigh. Farha says “You must have missed your flush, huh?” and thinks a while before folding. Shortly afterward Farha loses the tournament. There are a few reasons this was our number one pick. First, this bluff signifies the beginning of the poker boom as we know it today. If Sammy calls and wins, it is quite possible that the entire Moneymaker effect does not occur, and we all could be stuck at our old jobs, doing boring things and going to places other than Vegas on vacation. Instead, Sammy chose the safe route. He felt that his skill would prevail in the long run, and even though his read of the amateur was spot on, he could not make the call. That should be enough to make this bluff our number one, but no, there is more. Let’s not forget that Moneymaker pulled off this bluff heads up for the World Series of Poker Title and $2.5 million. It’s like an amateur coming to bat in the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series, and then hitting a walk-off home run. Moneymaker stepped up to the plate with the big boys and pulled off the bluff of all bluffs. This hand could very well be the reason you are reading this article.
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