Kanter Decimated
Aaron Kanter just saw his tournament dashed and it was all done with a miracle river card that gave George Reese the winning hand. If anyone remembers back to 2005, the year Greg Raymer was running deep in the WSOP Main Event the year following the one where he won the thing, it was Kanter who delivered a crushing blow to Raymer and left him crippled.
Famous 2005 Hand Involving Kanter and Raymer
With only 25 players remaining, Raymer was trying to do the unthinkable -- win back to back, massive-field WSOP Main Events -- before being dealt a beat so crushing it might have made a lesser man leave the game forever. Dealt 
, Raymer made a standard opening raise and was called by Aaron Kanter, who held 
. The flop came down 
and Raymer made a half-pot continuation bet. Kanter called. The 
on the turn put two hearts on the board and Raymer bet 330,000 -- again, about half the pot. Kanter raised "600,000 more," according to ESPN's Lon McEachern and Raymer set him in for the 700,000 he had behind. Kanter called with only the flush draw but caught lightning in a bottle when the 
hit the river. Raymer's stack was decimated and Kanter doubled up. Had Raymer won that hand, he would have taken the chip lead. Instead, he was eliminated a short time later in 25th place.
The hand was such a severe blow that it made #10 on our Top 10 Big Event Bad Beats list back in 2005.
Fast forward to a few moments ago. On the board of 
, Kanter checked. The next player bet 4,000 and then Reese raised to 12,000. Damjan Radanov was next up and he reraised to 32,000. Kanter thought for a little bit and then moved all in for 52,500. The next player folded and then Reese called all in for 51,200 total. Radanov had slammed the table with his hand immediately after Kanter shoved and was still visibly upset when he tossed his cards into the muck emphatically. The all-in hands were tabled.
Kanter: 
Reese: 
As you can see, Kanter already had a made full house and was in prime position to take a huge pot and send Reese to the rail. The dealer burned once more and then delivered the 
on the river to smack Reese with a higher full house than Kanter. Just like the river saved Kanter in 2005 against Raymer, it took everything but 1,300 chips from Kanter. He was decimated just like Raymer was back in 2005. On the next hand, Kanter was eliminated. Reese exploded to 170,000 in chips after the big hand.