In 14 days, the first utterances of "Shuffle up and deal!" will ring out in the ballrooms at the Horseshoe Casino as the 2026 World Series of Poker (WSOP) gets underway.
Starting May 26, thousands and thousands of poker players will descend on Las Vegas for the ultimate summer grind – nearly two uninterrupted months of everything from no-limit hold'em to mixed triple draw lowball.
The Main Event, as always, will be the crown jewel of the summer. In anticipation of poker's most prestigious tournament, we're taking a look back at 10 of the greatest Main Event hands of all time.
Below, you'll find the first five – stay tuned for the next five in Part 2.
Moneymaker vs. Ivey (2003)
It's arguably the most important hand in poker's storied history.
Chris Moneymaker vs. Phil Ivey in the 2003 WSOP Main Event – the hand that propelled the former on the path to one of poker's most significant accomplishments. Without that ace on the river, no one remembers Moneymaker's name 20 years down the road. Without that ace on the river, poker might not go through its desperately-needed boom in the early-to-mid 2000s.
Without that ace on the river, poker isn't the same.
Johnny Chan vs. Erik Seidel (1988)
If you've seen Rounders, you've seen this hand go down. It all took place back in 1988 (before this writer's time and, perhaps, yours) but the hand's impact on the game increased ten-fold when it was featured in Rounders.
As it established its now-cult following, Rounders introduced poker to countless players – and seeing Matt Damon's character watch on as Johnny Chan put on a slow-playing masterclass against Erik Seidel stands out as one of the most memorable scenes in the film.
Scotty Nguyen vs. Kevin McBride (1998)
It's one of poker's all-time greatest lines. With cigarette smoke billowing out of his mouth and a frosty bottle of beer in hand, Scotty Nguyen delivered one of poker's most memorable moments in what should have been one of the most high-pressure spots in his career. For Nguyen, it might as well have been a $1/$2 pot at the local card room.
"You call it's going to be all over, baby," Nguyen told his opponent – and he wasn't bluffing.
Kevin McBride followed up with an equally-memorable line, saying: "I call, I play the board."
And then Nguyen showed him the goods – watch it all play out at the 3:05 minute mark below.
Matt Affleck vs. Jonathan Duhamel (2010)
We've all taken brutal beats. They're a dime a dozen when you play this game at any regular frequency.
When there's 15 players left in the WSOP Main Event, however, a bad beat can mean the difference between $500,000 and $9,000,000 – and that's exactly what it meant for Matt Affleck when his pocket aces were cracked by the pocket jacks of Jonathan Duhamel late in the 2010 Main Event.
While Affleck had to make the soul-crushing walk out of the tournament ballroom, Duhamel kept his seat and went on to win the whole thing.
Watch Affleck breakdown the entirety of the hand in the video below.
Motoyuki Mabuchi vs. Justin Phillips (2008)
On the rare occasions that a player makes quad aces, it can be tough to derive value from an opponent. After all, you've got all four of the best cards – what can they possibly have?
Sometimes, however, your opponent has a hand to fight back with. It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's a great feeling. Motoyuki Mabuchi experienced that very feeling when he and Justin Phillips got all the chips in on Day 1 of the 2008 Main Event.
Mabuchi had rivered quad aces and Phillips called when he moved all-in on the river – amazing, right?
Wrong. Phillips rivered a royal flush.
Want to see more of the greatest hands from the WSOP Main Event? Watch this space, Part 2 is coming soon.
Video clips courtesy of PokerGO.
