In a single year, hundreds of millions of poker hands are played.
While the vast majority go unnoticed, a select few draw the attention of the poker world and cement a place in the game’s history.
Below, we’ve pulled together a list of the best hands from 2025. That’s not to say there’s any specific criteria involved with our selections – some are large pots, some are smaller, and some aren’t even direct exchanges of money – these are just a handful of pots that stood out from the pack.
Frenchman strikes down Bleznick in Main Event
On Day 1D of the 2025 WSOP Main Event, Jared Bleznick took a beat that would have most players questioning the choices that lead them to this point – and it all played out on PokerGO's live-streamed coverage of the event, including Bleznick's unfortunate bustout.
With the best starting hand in poker and six raises made before the flop, Bleznick was well on his way to bagging a big stack on Day 1. Until, however, the deck had other ideas in mind and provided his opponent Romain Locquet with top set. PokerOrg caught up with Locquet in the aftermath.
“It wasn’t anything special,” Locquet said. “To start, I thought he was bluffing. I found myself with a pair of nines, so I five-bet. Then finally when he six-bet, I was forced to call to hunt the nine.”
“When it arrived, it was quite hard to maintain myself emotionally inside,” Locquet explained, “but I did my best; he paid me out, it was cool.”
'The Grinder' forces Kenney to break the winner
There were a multitude of notable hands that spurred Michael 'The Grinder' Mizrachi forward on his march to a record fourth Poker Players Championship win – several of which could have made this list.
One, in particular, stands out among the rest. It came during heads-up play against Bryn Kenney. With the spotlight on and the entire poker world watching, Mizrachi put Kenney to a nasty decision for all of his chips in a round of Limit 2-7 Triple Draw. With the best of it, all Kenney had to do was stand pat and make the call to score a full double up.
With a ten-low, Mizrachi wasn't going to win at showdown, but he played his hand as though he had Kenney beat. Mizrachi's confident play had Kenney second-guessing himself, however, and he chose to break his nine-low and draw to a better hand – a costly mistake that ended in his elimination as he paired one of his cards to leave Mizrachi with the winner.
David Peters silences Martin Kabrhel
Martin Kabrhel caused quite a stir at the 2025 WSOP in Las Vegas, bringing his one-of-a-kind, loud-mouthed table talk to the series. While he managed to pick up his fourth bracelet in the Mini Main Event, one of the more lasting impressions Kabrhel left on the summer was this hand against David Peters in the largest buy-in of the series, the $250K Super High Roller.
On the stone bubble of the event, Peters leveraged his covering stack to move his opponent off of a monster hand. With all eyes on him, Peters found the above-the-rim play to silence Kabrhel.
Seth Davies, the eventual winner of the event, touched on the hand in an exclusive interview with PokerOrg.
"That was an incredible hand," Davies said. "There were 200 people on the rail watching him. As soon as he announced all-in they were like ‘Ohhhh!!!’ It was like it was straight out of a movie. It was one of the coolest hands I’ve ever seen happen."
Quads? No good
Hustler Casino Live provided many of the year's most entertaining high stakes action with its five-days-a-week schedule and well-orchestrated lineups. While it's certainly not the biggest hand dealt on the show, this pot between two of the shows regulars – Luda Chris and Francisco The Pro – is definitely in contention for the sickest.
With the board dealt out and $43,950 in the middle, Luda Chris fired a bet for about a third of the pot – completely confident that, if called, his chips would return to him along with new friends. And with all four of the eights in the deck, he had every reason to be. Then, Francisco moved all-in for $74,875. Luda Chris snap called to bring the pot to $193,700.
"You call?" Francisco asked. "Straight flush."
Quads no good.
$1.1M in the middle, three hands, four runouts
In 2025, High Stakes Poker brought its fans more of the insane action that the show has built its reputation on. In addition to its usual fare, the show ran a live-streamed game in November with a stacked lineup – including Santhosh Suvarna, Jennifer Tilly, and Doug Polk, all three of whom clashed in a wild $1.1M pot.
With $214,500 in the middle, the flop smashed all three players and the money went in. As the trio discussed business before the rest of the board was dealt, Polk suggested four runouts instead of the standard one or two. Suvarna and Tilly agreed – though the dealer was likely less than thrilled given the calculations necessary to chop up the pot.
In the end, Suvarna scooped three of the four runouts and came away as the clear victor.
