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ONCHAN, Isle of Man – A hand featuring Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier has been voted the ‘Greatest Ever Poker Hand in the History of PokerStars’ by a poll of influential poker media.
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The poll, which enlisted the help of some of the poker industry’s top media voices, was held as an alternative selection to the public vote, which is open until June 10 at the PokerStars YouTube channel.
The critics’ number one choice from a total of 22 short-listed hands is ‘The One Where Jason Mercier Arrives’, which takes place at the final table of the European Poker Tour San Remo event in 2008. It sees Mercier – largely unknown at the time – make a great call on the river with bottom pair to eliminate his opponent. The hand catapulted Mercier into the limelight as he went on to take down EPT San Remo for €869,000 in what was his first ever live cash.
The Big Game A hand from the PokerStars Big Game TV show, entitled ‘The One Where Phil Hellmuth Runs It Four Times’, was a close second in the poll. The hand sees Hellmuth and an amateur ‘Loose Cannon’ get all-in on the flop with Phil as the big favourite. However, the two players agree to run the turn and river four times, and the ‘Loose Cannon’ miraculously wins three out of four as a huge underdog.
The critics’ third most popular choice was ‘The One Where Benny Spindler Rewrites the Rules’. The young German pro gets into a pre-flop raising war with British pro Paul Foltyn, and eventually wins the hand by making a seven-bet all-in with K-J offsuit, which gets his opponent to fold a better hand.
The three top hands from the poker media poll can be viewed here:
1. The One Where Jason Mercier Arrives
2. The One Where Phil Hellmuth Runs It Four Times
3. The One Where Benny Spindler Rewrites the Rules
PokerStars wishes to thank all the media that took part in the poll: Bluff Europe, Card Player, GipsyTeam.ru, PocketFives.com, Poker.se, Pokeritieto.com, PokerPlayer Magazine, PokerListings.com, PokerNews.com, PokerPT.com, PokerStrategy.com, and WPT Poker Magazine.
Public vote The critics have had their say, but the ‘Greatest Ever Poker Hand’ public vote, which is the first promotion of the PokerStars 100 Billion Hands Celebration, is still open until June 10. Poker fans can go to PokerStars YouTube channel and vote for their favourite from the 22 short-listed hands. The winner of the public vote will be announced on June 11.
The current top three most popular choices (based on votes/shares), with five more days still to go, are:
1. The One Where Daniel Calls It
2. The One Where Phil Hellmuth Runs It Four Times
3. The One Where Vanessa Shuts Up Tony G
Zoom & BOOM! Once the voting for the Greatest Ever Hand is closed, Team PokerStars Pros Daniel Negreanu, Lex Veldhuis and Liv Boeree will select one hand from the three most popular to form the basis for another promotional element of the 100 Billion Hands Celebration – Zoom and BOOM!
From June 24-30, players at Zoom No Limit Hold’em tables (any stakes) will be able to earn cash rewards by winning a pot post-flop with the exact same hand (including suits) as the one that the three Team Pros select as their favourite (to be announced on June 20), and then using the BOOM! Hand Replayer to share their winning hand with the world.
Winning players will receive a cash reward worth 100 big blinds at the stake level they are playing, to a maximum of $100.
Source: www.pokerstars.com
