Varkonyi vs Gardner
World Series of Poker, Main Event, 2002. The final hand.
The hand that cost Hellmuth his hair
The hand
Robert Varkonyi and Julian Gardner. Blinds 20K / 40K.
Before the flop
- Blinds 20K and 40K. Varkonyi has the button.
- Varkonyi raises to 80K.
- Gardner calls.
The flop
- Gardner checks.
Varkonyi bets 50K. Why
Varkonyi. Top pair is well ahead heads-up. A small bet charges the club draws and gets called by worse pairs.
Gardner raises to 900K and is all in. Why
Gardner. Short against a big stack, a flush draw is worth all of it. Varkonyi may fold a small pair, and when called the draw still has two cards to come.
- Varkonyi calls. The famous decision
The turn
The river
The flop
The famous decision
Varkonyi. A short stack moving in on a two-club board often has a draw or a smaller pair. Top pair with a ten kicker is ahead of those, and folding gives up most of the pot already in.
Gardner had the flush draw and made it on the river, but the same ten filled Varkonyi up: tens full beat the flush.
The result
Varkonyi wins at the showdown with Full house, Tens full of Queens.
- VarkonyiQ♦10♠Wins
- GardnerJ♣8♣
Why it is famous
Robert Varkonyi won the 2002 Main Event with queen-ten, the hand that had taken most of Phil Hellmuth’s chips on day three. In the commentary booth Hellmuth said he would shave his head if Varkonyi won, and after the river ten gave Varkonyi a full house over Julian Gardner’s flush, he did.
What to take from it
Heads-up, top pair with a good kicker is a strong hand, and an all in on a board with two clubs is often a draw.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The action, the blinds of 20,000 and 40,000 and Gardner’s all in of 900,000 in all are from Phil Hellmuth’s CardPlayer column; the 2002 recap gives the same raise, check and bet. Varkonyi’s stack is not documented: heads-up began with Varkonyi ahead 5.2 million to 1.2 million, fifteen hands earlier. Gardner’s stack is worked out from the 80,000 and the all in. Hellmuth’s column gives two of the board’s cards in other suits; the cards shown are Wikipedia’s.
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