The 5 Biggest 'What If's' in Poker
The 5 Biggest ‘What If’s’ in Poker
Trolling through one of the popular poker forums recently, we stumbled upon a thread that didn’t seem interesting at the time, but it got us thinking: What are poker’s greatest “what if”s? This thread specifi cally stated: “What if Steve Dannenmann won the 2005 WSOP ME?” While ultimately it wouldn’t have changed much, as “Salty” Joe Hachem has proven to be one of the world’s best No Limit Hold’em tournament players, and Dannenmann, with thirteen cashes since his second place ME fi nish, has at least shown he wasn’t a fl uke. However, there are certainly much bigger poker perhaps and perchances. Here’s our list of the Top 5 All-Time Poker “What If”s:
5. What if Rounders didn’t get Matt Damon and Ed Norton?
Most everyone agrees that there hasn’t been a great poker movie since Rounders. What most people don’t discuss is what role Rounders played in the overall poker boom. Released in 1998, Rounders was an undeniable factor in making poker cool to the emerging young generation of future online donks. And a big part of that cool factor was Matt Damon and Ed Norton inking their names to star in the movie. Damon and Norton even played in the ’98 WSOP to promote the fl ick, ushering in the unfortunate era of poker-playing actors. But the bottom line is that Rounders put poker on the map and in the mainstream consciousness again – something that might not have happened if Miramax had only been able to convince Skeet Ulrich and Ron Eldard to star.
4. What if Johnny Chan won three straight WSOP Main Events?
Remember that scene in Rounders where Mike McD watches Johnny Chan perfectly slow play Erik Seidel to erroneously push his stack en route to scoring a second consecutive WSOP title? Chan was a freaking legend. He was even part of a pivotal scene in the movie (“Sorry John, but I don’t remember”).
Not to be disrespectful to Johnny, but he almost seems like an afterthought nowadays as a fi gure in the game. Somehow, somewhere along the way, people have forgotten about The Orient Express.
But the man who denied Chan his third straight title – Phil Hellmuth – has not been forgotten. Not even close.
So the question is: How would Chan be perceived today if he had won three straight WSOP Main Events? And would the marketing machine that is Phil Hellmuth have ever happened?
3. What if the World Poker Tour bought the WSOP brand?
This is a bit of a reach but stay with us. When the WPT was just getting launched, the WSOP brand wasn’t what it is today. We’ve been told by multiple sources over the years that the WSOP brand could’ve been bought for as little as $50,000 as late as the late ’90s. So let’s say Steve Lipscomb and crew had decided that instead of launching the World Poker Tour, they’d just buy the WSOP brand and go global with it, setting up one singular poker tour and ranking system similar to the PGA. Think about it. Just one tour with no competition interests with “majors” culminating in the crowning of an eventual champion each year. Where would poker be today if THAT had happened?
2. What if Sammy Farha had called Chris Moneymaker’s bluff?
There is a bunch of “what if”s when examining Moneymaker’s improbable 2003 WSOP Main Event run (like what if he didn’t call Dutch Boyd’s bluff while holding pocket threes… or if he didn’t river a boat on Phil Ivey…). But the heads-up bluff on his busted fl ush and straight draws on Sammy Farha is defi nitely the one that stands out the most. Would poker have captured the public’s imagination anywhere near as much if Sammy Farha had won? (Probably not) Would Sammy have been anywhere the ambassador Moneymaker has been? (Defi nitely not) Would Moneymaker been asked 147,000 times if that was really his last name? (Of course not)
1. What if Doyle didn’t get lucky?
Many people forget, but “Poker Legend Doyle Brunson” might be better known as “Best Poker Player Never to Win the Main Event Doyle Brunson” had he not gotten really, really lucky two years in a row.
As you are well aware, Brunson won the 1977 and 1978 WSOP Main Events. To do so, Doyle needed to catch an improbable runner-runner in 1977 to overcome the fl opped top two pair of Jesse Alto, and then catch a 2 in 1978 to beat the fl opped two pair of Bones Berland.
There’s no doubting Doyle’s greatness and impact on the game of poker. He went on to produce Super System, which then in- fl uenced Mike McD (or more accurately, the writers of Rounders), which then impacted a whole new generation of players.
So really, it’s lucky for us all that Doyle Brunson had some luck on his side.
