PokerNews Top 10: World Series of Poker Celebrations
On Tuesday, the World Series of Poker held a conference call to discuss — amongst other topics — rule changes for 2012. Players are now allowed to talk about their hands (as long as they don't expose their cards or re-open the action), and, more importantly, they are allowed to celebrate if they choose to.
"The poker room is not a church," WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart explained. "We think we need to set the tone to bring a little bit of the fun back to tournament poker."
In light of the rule change, we went back and took a look at some of the best WSOP celebrations of all time.
10. Gamble!
Justin Phillips' "Wowwwwwwwwwwww" cracks us up every time because it's so genuine, but the best part of this hand is the pre-celebratory shove by Motoyuki Mabuchi. He literally throws his stack in the middle yelling, "Gamble!" Then, to top it all off, he slow rolls with the losing hand. Classic.
9. Fischman's fall
Initially the music that accompanies this video was annoying, but once you reach the climax, you realize that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Trepak is perfect. Poor Joe Awada ran so bad during heads-up play in this event, which makes Scott Fischman's "table dive" even funnier.
8. Report to the rail!
Ladies and gentlemen, Silvio Formica — the self-proclaimed greatest player in the world who hasn't won a major tournament. Another great example of the pre-celebration.
7. Raymer's roar
After unintentionally slow-rolling David Williams, Greg Raymer releases a lion-like roar. His shout was so epic, it accompanied the WSOP theme music until 2011, when Poker PROductions took over and changed the introduction.
6. Jumping the rail
Brian Rast gives us yet another pre-celebration with his "who trapped who" line, but it's Antonio Esfandiari's leap over the rail that put this one on the list.
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5. Beth Shak's "got it"
There are no words.
4. Kenny Tran is a genius
We hope that Kenny Tran didn't break anything while patting himself on the back so ferociously.
3. The Screaming Swede
Mattias Andersson gives us another great pre-celebration. What sound would he have made had the 9♠ peeled on the river?
2. The hand heard round the world
Who can blame Filippo Candio for absolutely spazzing out when the 4♣ spikes on the river? The pot was worth more than an average stack at the final table (24.4 million), and it's the biggest tournament in the world.
1. The Godfather
Hevad Khan is the Godfather of WSOP celebrations. He's the reason that they made the rule, and any list with him lower than number one should be null and void.
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