Hellmuth vs Chan
World Series of Poker, Main Event, 1989. The final hand.
Chan goes for a third title in a row
The hand
Phil Hellmuth and Johnny Chan. Stack sizes from this hand were not published.
Before the flop
- Blinds are posted. Hellmuth has the button.
- Hellmuth raises to 40K.
- Chan raises.
Hellmuth moves all in. Why
Hellmuth. A pair of nines is a strong hand heads-up. Moving all in wins the pot now against a re-raise with two high cards, and is ahead of every hand without a pair if Chan calls.
- Chan calls all in. The famous decision
The flop
The turn
The river
Before the flop
The famous decision
Chan. An all in over a re-raise is rarely a bluff. Ace-seven is behind every pair and every bigger ace, and ahead only of hands with neither a pair nor an ace. Chan said afterwards that he was tired and wanted it over.
Hellmuth had nines, and they held through a board with no ace or seven. Chan said later that he played the final hand terribly.
The result
Hellmuth wins at the showdown with Two pair, Kings and Nines.
- Hellmuth9♠9♣Wins
- ChanA♠7♠
Why it is famous
Johnny Chan had won the Main Event the two years before. On the final hand of 1989 he called Phil Hellmuth’s all in with ace-seven against a pair of nines, and the nines held: Hellmuth became the youngest Main Event champion to that point. Chan said later, "The final hand, I played terrible. I was so tired. I just wanted to get it over with."
What to take from it
A long day makes a call look better than it is. An all in late at night deserves the same care as the first hand.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The blinds and the stacks at the start of the hand are not documented. Heads-up began with Hellmuth on 1.1 million to Chan’s 600,000 (CardPlayer). Chan’s re-raise is given as to 130,000 (CardPlayer) and as 130,000 more (ESPN), so its size is not shown, and neither is Hellmuth’s all in. Only ESPN gives the suits of the turn and the river; CardPlayer agrees on the rest of the board.
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