First-Hand Hands from the 2024 WSOP

Faraz Jaka
Terrance Reid
Posted on: June 5, 2024 15:53 PDT

Poker nerds rejoice! If you've ever wanted to know how the best players in the world think while they're in a hand, this is the place for you.

We are going to be here all summer, diving into the minds of some of the best poker players on the planet as they explain how they navigated some of their most interesting spots.

We don't care about standard hands – these are the moves the winning players make that separate themselves from the rest. 

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WSOP Main: Terrance Reid sees terrible river - "I hope to not get raised"

Poker.Org's very own Terrance Reid enjoyed a stellar run in the WSOP Main Event, eventually finishing in 538th place at the end of Day 4 for $35,000.

At the beginning of Day 4, Reid got himself involved in a four-bet pot with pocket queens and had to deal with an overcard on the river.

WSOP Main: Faraz Jaka - "I could have made a really cool play"

Three-bet cold callers can put three-bettors in a real pickle.

Early on Day 1 of the WSOP Main Event, Faraz Jaka had pocket kings and was irked the whole way by a pesky cold caller from the big blind. Find out how he navigated this tricky scenario in the video above.

WSOP Main: Blaise Bourgeois double-barrels with seven-high

Blaise Bourgeois Blaise Bourgeois
Matthew Berglund

On the first hand of the final level on Day 2 of the WSOP Main Event, Poker.Org's own Blaise Bourgeois was running relatively low, starting Level 10 with just 46,500 (23.25 big blinds) and being dealt in the big blind.

The hijack opened to 4,500 and the button called. Blaise looked down at and made the call.

"This is a hand, like other low suited connectors, that plays excellently in multiway pots. If the effective stacks were much deeper, we could consider three-betting this hand but off of around 20 bigs, we have a no-brainer call."

The flop came and checked around. On the turn, Blaise decided to go for a 5,000 stab at the pot after picking up a gutshot straight draw. The hijack called and the button folded.

"The hijack showed a tendency to be a pretty face-up player, taking a lot of passive actions. The guy on the button was an obvious recreational and played his holdings instead of giving any considerations for his range. He would also quickly overbet jam if he ever connected really well, so he was pretty easy to play against.

"So after the flop checked around, I decided to try to take it down right there, knowing that there would be a number of river cards I could choose to double-barrel quite comfortably. I know that, in a GTO universe, there are going to be a number of traps here but I didn't believe these particular opponents were capable.

"When the hijack calls the turn, in my head he'll have a lot of suited, , , suited, and maybe even some big aces that aren't ready to fold just yet. But like I said, this guy played quite passively all day, so I wasn't expecting to get hero-called that often on the river either."

With 26,500 in the middle, the river brought the , making the board . With just 35,000 behind, Blaise went for it, putting out a bet of 16,000. The hijack thought about it for about 30 seconds before letting it go, pushing a much-needed pot in Blaise's direction.

"The board-pairing four was essentially the perfect river to bluff. The way the day has played out, I have all the jacks and all the fours in this spot and I decided to use a 60% bet size. I would use this same sizing to get value from sticky players who want to call me down with ace-high or with some sort of pair. 

"I also saw this particular player use this kind of milky sizing with value and wanted to use this pseudo-psychology to my advantage. Against a more-skilled player, I'd probably go a lot bigger or potentially overbet jam.

"I had less than 20,000 behind so this spot was essentially make-or-break. This bluff had to work or I was in real trouble. I was very confident that it would get through but my opponent did sit there a little too long for my liking. Fortunately, he found the fold, and later told me that he had pocket nines.

Blaise Bourgeois Blaise Bourgeois

"Day 2 was extremely rough and I only made two real hands all day long. Fortunately, one was a full 65 big blind double that took me up to 135,000 early on in the day, otherwise I would have definitely been out.

"The only other hand I made was the next orbit in the big blind (after the 7-6s hand), when I made trip jacks with the old . Other than that I was getting out-pipped in small pots and bleeding chips most of the day.

"It was extremely frustrating missing boards and very stressful having to rely on redlining bluffs all day, especially at what I considered a great table draw. Fortunately, we were able to have a fantastic final level and bag more than our Day 1 starting stack and head into Day 3 with 42 bigs."

Despite bagging 104,500, Blaise's Day 3 would be a quick one, busting on the last hand of Level 11. After a tough start, he ran his pocket kings into a set of fours off 22 bigs.

Abby Merk flops the world - "Oops"

Abby Merk found herself in a wild spot on Day 1 of the $2,500 NLH event after flopping the world.