The Five Biggest Cash Game Pots in Online Poker in 2014
Can you believe that 2014 is already in the books? Last year brought some of most exciting and memorable hands at Full Tilt Poker, the home to some of the biggest nosebleed online poker games.
It isn't surprising that the top hands of the year were all played at Full Tilt. What might be surprising, however, is that all of the 50 biggest online poker hands of the year were played at the popular high-stakes site.
In June, we brought to you the top five hands of the first half of the year. Shockingly, none of those hands made it into the top five for the year, but you can read all about these hands here.
Here is a look at the top five online poker hands in 2014.
5. Denoking vs WCGRider – $338,760
The fifth biggest hand in 2014 took place on Sept. 18, 2014, in a $200/$400 no-limit hold'em heads-up match on table "Dig" between high-stakes poker pros "Denoking" and Doug "WCGRider" Polk.
The action in this hand began with Denoking making a pot-sized bet of $1,400 on the button with 8♥8♠. He then called a huge three-bet to $6,800 from WCGRider who held suited-connectors 10♦9♦.
The flop ran 8♦Q♠K♦, giving Denoking a set and WCGRider both flush and straight draws. WCGRider led out with a $10,200 bet with his draw hand and Denoking raised to $35,600. WCGRider then went all in and Denoking called. Although both players agreed to run the hand twice, WCGRider was never able to catch up, and Denoking raked in a huge $338,760.10 pot, the fifth biggest of the year.
4. Gus Hansen vs. Jungleman12 and Islidur1 - $355,144
The fourth biggest hand took place on the mixed-game "Coventry" table during a $300/$600 pot-limit hand on Aug. 20, 2014 between some of the biggest names in the game: Gus Hansen, Dan "jungleman12" Cates and Viktor "Isildur1" Blom.
The action started fast with Hansen min-raising to $1,200 with 9♣7♣6♦5♦ from the button, Cates raising the action to $4,200 with A♠10♠9♠8♥ from the small blind, and Isildur1 four-betting the pot to $13,800 with J♠10♣9♥7♠. Both players called, creating the potential for huge action on a 10♥7♦5♠ rainbow flop.
The money was all-in on the flop with Isildur1 having top two pair, Gus Hansen having a smaller two-pair, and Cates having a straight draw. The J♦ turn gave Cates the temporary lead with a straight, but this card also gave Gus Hansen the only flush draw on the board.
The flush wasn't necessary as Gus Hansen spiked the 5♥ on the river, giving him the full house and $259,430 of the huge $355,145 pot. Cates was able to hold onto the side pot of $95,714.40 to mitigate some of his losses on this epic hand.
3. LuvtheWNBA vs. Denoking - $359,187
The third biggest hand involved Isaac "luvtheWNBA" Haxton and Denoking in a $300/$600 heads-up no limit hand on table "Po Box" on Aug. 21, 2014.
This hand is far less exciting than the first two as both players got it in with KxQx on a board where both hit the nuts splitting a huge $359,186.90 pot.
2. Isildur1 vs. Jungleman12 - $372,260
Minutes after being on the losing end of the fourth biggest hand of the year, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom got his revenge during a $300/$600 no-limit hold'em hand on table "Khan" on Aug. 20, 2014, against Dan Cates.
The hand began three-handed with Gus Hansen also at the table. Cates raised preflop to $1,500 and Blom raised to $5,400 with 7♥6♥. Hansen got out of the way and Cates opted to see a flop in position.
Blom led out for $7,200 on a K♣9♦8♦ board and Cates called. The 5♥ on the turn was one of the eight outs Blom needed to make his straight, and he led out with a $17,400 bet which Cates raised to $48,600. Blom decided to disguise his hand and just called, hoping for more action on the river.
The Q♠ was a scare card for Isildur1 as it brought into play the possibility of him losing if Cates held Jx10x. While we are uncertain what Cates had since he ultimately mucked his hand, we can at least determine he did not have this combination of cards. Blom opted to check the hand to Cates who then led out with a $98,600 bet, which just about put Blom all-in if he called. Blom opted to raise his remaining stack and found himself on the winning end of a $372,260.20 pot.
1. WCGRider vs. Denoking - $382,827
The biggest hand of the year took place about an hour and a half after WCGRider and Denoking faced off on the fifth largest hand of the year on Sept. 18, 2014 on the no-limit hold'em heads-up "Sele" table.
This hand is easily the biggest cooler of the year as the duo got it in with the best two hands in poker. Despite both players opting to run it twice after the money was all-in preflop, WCGRider's A♥A♠ held against Denoking's K♦K♠ giving him a huge $382,826.60 pot, the biggest of the year.
Data, hands and replayer obtained from HighStakesDB.com
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