Moneymaker vs Farha
World Series of Poker, Main Event, 2003
Heads-up for the world title
The Hand
Chris Moneymaker and Sammy Farha. Blinds 20K / 40K, ante 5K.
Before the Flop
- Blinds 20K and 40K. Moneymaker has the button.
- Moneymaker raises to 100K.
- Farha calls.
The Flop
- Farha checks.
- Moneymaker checks.
The Turn
- Farha bets 300K.
Moneymaker raises to 800K. Why
Moneymaker. King-seven with the king of spades is a big draw: any spade makes a flush, and a ten or a five makes a straight. Raising gives two ways to win. Farha can fold a pair right now, and if he calls there are still plenty of cards that make the best hand. His bet after a checked flop looked like a pair he wanted to protect, not a monster.
- Farha calls.
The River
- Farha checks.
- Moneymaker moves all in. The famous decision
Farha folds. Why
Farha. Farha read the turn raise and the river shove as one story: the flush got there. Top pair beats only a bluff, and a fold kept Farha in the match.
A call would have won: Moneymaker had king-high. Farha later blamed himself for it. The lesson is that a consistent story is what makes a bluff work.
Play Moneymaker vs Farha, decision by decision
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The river
The Famous Decision
Moneymaker. King-high can never win a showdown here, so checking gives up. The turn raise when the third spade came told a flush-or-straight story, and Farha only called it. Only a bet that risks his whole tournament makes top pair fold.
The Result
Moneymaker wins the pot.
Why It Is Famous
An online qualifier who paid $86 into a satellite bluffed a veteran off top pair on television. It is often called the start of the poker boom. Norman Chad called it "the bluff of the century" on ESPN. Farha said later, "I bluffed myself out."
What to Take from It
A bluff works when its story is consistent. The turn raise and the river shove both said "flush", and top pair has no answer to that.
Sources
What the sources do not say. The stacks are about 4.6 million for Moneymaker and 3.8 million for Farha, as three outlets give them. They are rounded, and one report implies different ones. The size of Moneymaker’s river all in is not documented. How long Farha thought before folding is reported as anything from several minutes to about twenty.
Make all three decisions, then see what really happened
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