This hand occurred during the 2025 WSOP Paradise Super Main Event in The Bahamas between PokerOrg’s very own Terrance ’TJ’ Reid and Eric Wasserson.
The hand presented a little more intrigue than usual, as the broadcasters made TJ’s hand a mystery for the stream's viewers and commentators.
Watch the video above now to hear TJ talk through his strategy as the hand played out.
The WSOP Paradise Super Main Event was a $25,000 buy-in with unlimited reentries and a first prize of a massive $10,000,000. Seven players were remaining from a total of 2,891 runners when this hand was dealt at the final table.
Reid was sitting on a covering chip stack of 135M, and Wasserson had 101M behind when the hand began. The blinds were 2,500,000/5,000,000 with a 5,000,000 big blind ante.
Table dynamics: ICM and stack sizes
“We're at the final table. I have $1.4M locked up, and $1.8M is the next payout,” says Reid. “I'm right in the middle of the pack. It’s a very dangerous spot to be, because you don't want to bust before the two players who are shorter than you with such heavy pay jumps.
“There are two massive stacks, Jean-Noel Thorel and Bernhard Binder. Thorel had something like 600 million in play, which is about 40% of the chips. But he's not really bullying the table like you would expect a chip leader to do. He's playing fairly straightforwardly.
“Binder, the guy who goes on to win the thing, takes the role of the chip leader, even though he's second in chips. He's on my direct left. I have a bad seat at this final table with Binder on my left and a middling stack.
“It was really tough to maneuver. I've got to pick my spots very, very carefully. But that said, I can still put pressure on the two shorter stacks. That's what we're going to discuss in this hand, with Wasserson opening up the action and me on his direct left.”
Watch the hand play out in the video at the top of the article.
Terrance ‘TJ’ Reid is a professional player and also the Live Events Manager for Poker.Org.
Follow TJ’s poker journey on YouTube or X.
