Raymer vs Williams
World Series of Poker, Main Event, 2004. The final hand.
The year after Moneymaker
The hand
David Williams and Greg Raymer. Stack sizes from this hand were not published.
Before the flop
- Blinds are posted. Williams has the button.
- Williams raises to 300K.
Raymer calls. Why
Raymer. Raymer said he called to hide a decent pair. A re-raise tells Williams exactly how strong he is, while a call keeps the button raiser betting.
The flop
- Raymer checks.
- Williams bets 500K.
Raymer raises to 1.6M. Why
Raymer. An overpair to a five-four-deuce flop is likely ahead. Raising builds the pot and charges the straight and flush draws on a board full of them.
- Williams calls.
The turn
- Raymer bets 2.5M.
- Williams calls.
The river
- Raymer moves all in.
- Williams calls all in. The famous decision
The river
The famous decision
Williams. A full house is a big hand, and Raymer could be pushing a smaller pair or ace-high. But every pocket pair above fours, and any five, makes a bigger full house on this board, and Raymer had raised the flop and bet the turn.
Raymer had eights, the bigger full house. Williams finished second.
The result
Raymer wins at the showdown with Full house, Twos full of Eights.
- WilliamsA♥4♠
- Raymer8♠8♦Wins
Why it is famous
The final hand of the 2004 Main Event put two full houses on a board of three deuces. David Williams called Greg Raymer’s river all in at once with deuces full of fours, and Raymer’s eights made the bigger full house and won the $5 million first prize. Raymer told PokerNews: "When he snap-called on the river, my first thought wasn’t, 'Yes I’ve won,' it was like 'Oh Jesus, he called that fast.'"
What to take from it
A full house on a paired board can still be behind: count the bigger ones before calling it all.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The blinds and the stacks at the start of the hand are not documented. Raymer had about two thirds of the chips when heads-up began: 17 million, about double Williams, by CardPlayer. Raymer’s flop raise is to 1.6 million in two sources and to 1.1 million in a third. The size of Raymer’s river all in is not given.
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