Five bluffs that still feel illegal (but aired on TV)
Real hands from the WSOP and High Stakes Poker—what happened, why it mattered, and one takeaway each.
- curated
- moments
- video
These are not Hollywood hands—they were broadcast, dissected, and argued about for years. They are useful because they show how much story and pressure can outweigh the actual cards when stacks and cameras line up.
Watch: the hand that ended the 2003 Main Event
The clip below is the official World Series of Poker cut of the final all-in between Chris Moneymaker and Sammy Farha: Farha holds jack-ten, the money goes in, and Moneymaker’s five-four holds to win the title. Same heads-up match, a few hands earlier, produced the king-high river shove people still call the “bluff of the century”—Farha folded a pair of nines to Moneymaker’s complete miss.
Takeaway: at a TV final table, your line has to make sense as a range, not just as two cards. Moneymaker’s aggression all week made the shove credible even when he had nothing.
2. Dwan barrels Greenstein and Eastgate off better hands (2009)
On High Stakes Poker Season 5, Tom Dwan called preflop with Q♣10♣ in a multiway pot. The flop came 10♦2♣2♠. Barry Greenstein bet with A♥A♠; Dwan raised (representing trips); Peter Eastgate cold-called with 4♥2♦ for trips. On the 7♦ turn both checked. Dwan fired about $104,000 into a six-figure pot—and both folded hands that beat him.
Takeaway: when the board and action tell a single loud story (here, “I have a deuce”), a huge turn bet can fold out hands that are ahead but feel like they’re drawing dead.
3. Dwan moves Ivey off a real hand (High Stakes Poker, Season 6)
In a hand that made the “sickest bluff” highlight reels, Tom Dwan picked up 9♠8♠ and applied pressure through multiple streets against Phil Ivey—who held a stronger made hand—until Ivey released. The exact board and sizing are in VIP-Grinders and Pokertube breakdowns; the lesson is the same in your $2/$5 game: when someone’s line only makes sense as strength, well-timed aggression can still fold them if they believe you arrived with the nuts.
4. Speech-heavy rivers (WSOP and beyond)
William Kassouf’s 2016 Main Event table talk pushed floor staff to clarify what counts as binding action mid-hand. You do not need the rulebook memorized; you need to know that talking through a decision can lock you in or earn a penalty depending on venue—so default to clear gestures and clean verbal declarations.
5. The boring bluff that works in your game
Most winning bluffs in small stakes look like small stabs when ranges are capped: button vs big blind after checks, or a turn probe when the preflop raiser suddenly goes passive. Copy the idea from TV (credibility + line), not the stack depth.
Sources you can cross-check: WSOP broadcast archives and recaps; PokerNews and PokerListings hand breakdowns for Moneymaker–Farha and Dwan–Greenstein–Eastgate. The embedded video is from the official WSOP YouTube channel.