The Weirdest and Biggest Pot of My Life-So Far

There can be only one world champion of poker each year. Each winner will be called a world champion of poker for the rest of his life, not ex-world champion. Every poker tournament that he plays in and every cardroom that he ever visits will call him a world champion of poker. He will have his picture on the world champion of poker wall for eternity, and will win $1.5 million for first place. In golf, there are four majors a year, but in poker right now, we have just one. All of the poker players I know dream of winning the World Championship of Poker, thus securing their place in poker history. In fact, to many of my fellow poker players and me, the worst poker day of our poker year is the day when we are eliminated from the World Series of Poker championship event.

In 2001, Carlos Mortensen arrived at the final table after a grueling four days of play with more than $1 million in chips. I made it there as well, for the first time since I won the event in 1989. Joining Carlos and me at the final table were Dewey Tomko, Mike Matusow, Phil Gordon, John Inashima, Henry Nowakowski, Steve Reihle, and Stan Schrier. Also joining the nine of us at the final table were 1,200 spectators, two live Internet broadcasts (see www.philhellmuth.com for the archived broadcast), dozens of reporters, and 10 different cameras covering the players and table for the Travel Channel. With a battery of electronic equipment for the Travel Channel, a full room of spectators, and lots of spectacular bluffs from the players, it was the most exciting environment that I have ever been a part of.

I hadn't played at Carlos' table at all during the previous four days. The play at the final table that mystical fifth day was erratic and spectacular. In one pot, Henry Nowakowski smooth-called a $20,000 bet with pocket kings, then Carlos raised to $120,000 to go with A-Q, and then Mike Matusow made it $500,000 to go with 7-2 offsuit, which is generally considered to be the worst possible starting hand in hold'em poker! Risking $500,000 on a pure bluff takes a lot of guts, but sometimes discretion is the better part of valor! Of course, Henry called Mike's $500,000 bet with his pocket kings and won a $1.1 million pot with them. Another time, Mike made it $100,000 to go with A-10 offsuit, and then called Phil Gordon's $400,000 raise in a heartbeat! Mike made a fantastic call, because Phil only had A-7! With all of the brilliant and erratic fireworks and megabluffs surrounding him, Dewey Tomko quietly played his more conservative style and began to slowly accumulate chips.

With five players left, the following hand came up between Carlos and me. I was second in chips and feeling pretty good about things when I decided to call the $30,000 blind with Q-10. Dewey, Phil, Carlos, and Stan all then called the $30,000.

The flop came down Q 9 4. With about $160,000 in the pot, Carlos and Stan checked to me, and I bet a mere $60,000. Dewey and Phil folded, and then Carlos made it $260,000 to go, which was a $200,000 raise. Stan studied for about two minutes (two minutes in poker is an eternity, especially under those circumstances). As it turned out, Stan didn't even know that he had a hand sitting in front of him! When he realized that we were waiting for him to act and that he had a live hand, he instantly apologized and threw his hand away. Stan is a nice guy, and it was all just a simple mistake. While I was waiting for Stan to act, I spent all of my time studying Carlos, because I already knew that if Stan put a chip into this pot, I was going to fold my hand. Carlos looked very nervous to me, as we both thought that Stan was contemplating his next move. Suddenly, I began to think two things at once. First, I thought that Carlos had Q-J, which had me beat, but it would be hard for him to call my $650,000 reraise with Q-J, if I indeed raised all of my chips. My second thought was one that I don't ever remember having before in my life. I thought, "Is it time to go home?" I have been waiting 12 years for the chance to win the World Series of Poker again. I have visualized it and seen it happen many times in my mind over the years. I thought to myself, "I'm not going anywhere. I think I probably have Carlos beat, but even if he does have Q-J, he will fold it for a $650,000 raise right now."

I then moved all of my chips into the middle of the pot, and Carlos began to think. "Perfect," I thought. "If he's thinking, he doesn't have two pair or a set. I think that he will fold and I will win this pot." Then, Carlos said, "Count." The dealer said, "Call," and I flipped my hand faceup just as Carlos said, "Wait a minute – I didn't say call, I said count!"

Oh, my God; oh, my God! I just showed my hand to Carlos for free, in the biggest pot of my life! However, I covered it up very quickly. I'm not 100 percent sure if Carlos saw my hand or not (it would have been hard for him to miss it), but if he did, it just wasn't my year to win the championship. In all of my 17 years of watching and playing poker, I have never seen anyone flip up his hand while the other player was still thinking. It was bizarre, and it was definitely my fault (or stupidity). If he did see my hand, fate (or something like that) had intervened to prevent me from winning my second world championship. If he did see my hand, I just figure that some great power somewhere said, "Phil, I am going to take this one away from you, but don't worry about it, because I have given you so much in life." I also would like to believe that things happen for a reason, and that this great power has plans for me to win the world championship again soon. If Carlos didn't see my hand, he made one hell of a call with his Q-J, and, either way, he definitely deserved to win the 2001 WSOP. He played spectacular poker that day, and that's why he is the reigning world champion of poker.

After Carlos called my $650,000 raise, the next card was a jack (for Q-9-4-J), which gave me any 8 or any king to make a straight and win the pot. The last card was an ace, and it was all over for me. Five straight days of playing and 12 years of dreaming were gone in as long as it took the ace to hit the table in front of my own eyes. After I was eliminated, I was as dejected as I have ever been in my whole life, which makes me realize how lucky I am that no one close to me has died or is in bad health. After all, it's just poker – or at least that's what I keep telling myself!Editor's note: You can often find Phil Hellmuth playing poker online at www.ultimatebet.com. To read more of Phil's articles, go to www.philhellmuth.com.