While I’ve had my share of successes on the felt over the years, nothing compares to winning a World Series of Poker Bracelet. Now that the definitely-not-as-good-as-the-real-thing online WSOP season is in the rear-view mirror, I’m taking a trip down memory lane and reliving my favorite 10 hands from when I won the 2018 $5,000 No-Limit Hold’Em WSOP Bracelet.

World Series of Poker Las Vegas, NV June 11, 2018
Event #20:  $5,000 Big Blind Ante Day 4 (Final Table)

Level 32—80,000-160,000 blinds, 160,000 big blind ante, my stack=4,120,000 chips

Hand #202 of the Final Table:  Heads-up vs David Laka (he had roughly a 2.5-1 chip lead on me).

In the second hand back from a short playing break, I picked up A9o on the button.  I raised to 425k, and he 3-bet to 1.1mm.  This was the type of hand that I had to be willing to be all-in with since I was sitting on 25 BBs, and this hand tended to be ahead heads-up the overwhelming majority of the time. I figured he could certainly be 3-betting with a hand like KQ, A8, or a pocket pair 88 or lower. On the other hand, he also could have total air and fold here, but if he does in fact have a strong hand, at the very least, as long as he doesn’t have pocket aces, I’ll have 3 outs.

I made the move I had to make, pushing all-in and quickly getting called because he had pocket tens. Proudly, in more than an hour and a half of heads-up play and more than 6 1/2 hours of Final Table play, this was the first time I was all-in and behind.

I’ve watched a lot of poker over the last 15ish years, and I’ve seen people hit 3-outers (and 2-outers and 1-outers) countless times, but the few spots where I’ve needed a big suck-out in previous tournaments, I’ve never pulled one out.  While I waited for the cards to be set up for ideal camera positioning and an unnecessarily long pause to build up the drama, I thought to myself, I’ve seen this so many times for others; couldn’t this just happen once for me, please?

As had been my practice throughout the tournament when I was in an all-in hand prior to the river, I stood up and looked down at an index card full of pictures that Sarah had collaged together for me‒a picture of Sarah and me, a picture of Falcon kissing Mack, a picture of Falcon hugging Lola, and several others, but those were the three I kept focusing on for comfort while I was all-in and waiting.

I’d need an ace (and no ten) to keep my Bracelet dream alive. Finally, the flop was laid out, and right in the window was the ace that I had to have. I gave a quick glance back at Sarah while I briefly thought to myself, holy sh-t, this may actually happen, before returning to the state of abject fear about the remaining two cards. With a king and an 8 joining the ace on the flop, I just needed to avoid a ten on the turn or the river or running jack-queen (a 90% likelihood), and I would double up into the chip lead.

A 6 came on the turn, and he was down to 1 card; 5% to win the hand. The river was a clean deuce, and I had doubled up, taking my first chip-lead of heads-up play, with 7.75mm chips (out of ~12.9mm total).  This was the first time I could taste a hint of victory, knowing that I could be potentially one hand away from a Bracelet at any time while I had the chip lead.