Most interesting hand:

The best article I can remember reading was from either Poker Digest or Card Player and was published a number of years ago about a hand played by Puggy Pearson. I tried finding it online just now, but couldn’t.

It happened back in the ’70s I think and went something like this:

Puggy was playing a huge no-limit seven stud game in a casino and at a table where he wasn’t especially liked. He had suited connectors and picked up an open-ended straight flush draw on fourth street. His opponent was rolled up with jacks.

There was heavy betting all throughout the hand and both players pretty much knew where the other was at, but neither improved.

Following the last down card, Puggy took one last substantial stab at the monster pot, holding absolutely nothing. His opponent who hated Puggy and didn’t want to be bluffed, thought about it for a while, and eventually mumbled something implying he’d call.

Puggy, who’d covertly swapped his last down card with one of his first two (which would match up well, if shown, to his door and fourth card ), immediately flipped it over and announced, “I rivered the straight flush on your as$!!!” His opponent, who hadn’t yet actually put his money into the pot, now wanted to fold.

Puggy called the floor man (whom Puggy knew disliked him) for a decision. He made a bit of a scene, saying repeatedly “Verbal is binding!” Eventually, however, the floor man sided with Puggy’s opponent and permitted him to fold without matching Puggy’s bet.

At that point, Puggy flipped the rest of his cards and his opponent, who’d folded three jacks, flipped out. There was literally almost a fist fight.

I love this hand because Puggy went to such an extreme to make the bluff work. He even knew the floor man would find a way to side with his opponent and really galvanize his rouse!

Talk about shooting ALL the angles!

I was late into a tournament on PokerStars. I put in a large bet from early position preflop with KK, folded around to the small blind who reraised a pretty good chunk. I thought about it a moment and (as I was a bit ahead of him in chips,) raised him all in. He calls, we both have KK. The board four-flushes on the river and I win the hand. I’ve never felt so bad about winning a hand in my life.