Hachem vs Dannenmann
World Series of Poker, Main Event, 2005. The final hand.
Fifteen minutes of heads-up
The hand
Steve Dannenmann and Joe Hachem. Stack sizes from this hand were not published. Blinds 150K / 300K, ante 50K.
Before the flop
- Blinds 150K and 300K. Dannenmann has the button.
- Dannenmann raises to 700K.
- Hachem calls.
The flop
- Hachem checks.
- Dannenmann bets 700K.
Hachem raises to 1.7M. Why
Hachem. The nut straight on a board with a flush draw wants money in now, while Dannenmann’s overcards and draws can still pay. A diamond would slow the hand down.
- Dannenmann calls.
The turn
- Hachem bets 2M.
- Dannenmann raises to 5M. The famous decision
- Hachem moves all in.
Dannenmann calls all in. Why
Dannenmann. With so much already in the pot, a call is close to forced. Top pair beats a bluff or a smaller pair, and against a straight a seven still splits.
Hachem had the straight. The river four missed, and Hachem won the title.
The river
The turn
The famous decision
Dannenmann. Top pair with a straight draw looks strong, and a raise can take the pot from a draw or a smaller pair. But Hachem had check-raised the flop and bet again, which often means a straight already made, and then the raise only commits more chips to a hand that is drawing.
The result
Hachem wins at the showdown with Straight, Seven high.
- DannenmannA♦3♣
- Hachem7♣3♠Wins
Why it is famous
Joe Hachem called a raise with seven-three, one of the worst starting hands, and flopped a straight. Steve Dannenmann made top pair with a straight draw on the turn and put the rest of his chips in. The river did not give him the seven he needed to split, and the whole heads-up match had lasted about 15 minutes.
What to take from it
Top pair with a draw feels strong, but against a player who check-raised a connected board, it is often drawing.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The blinds, 150,000 and 300,000 with a 50,000 ante, are from PokerListings’s live report. The stacks at the start of the hand are not documented: heads-up began with Hachem on 39,990,000 to Dannenmann’s 16,380,000. PokerNews has Dannenmann bet 750,000 on the flop and Hachem raise to 1,750,000; CardPlayer and PokerListings have a 700,000 bet and a raise to 1,700,000, shown here. The size of Hachem’s all in is not given, and only Wikipedia gives the river’s suit.
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