The 5 Best Poker Hand Reviews of 2021
If you like expert poker hand analysis, you’ve come to the right place.
The Upswing Poker team is constantly on the lookout for interesting hands to review. When we stumble upon a great one, we analyze and publish it on the poker strategy blog.
This is a list of the 5 most notable/interesting/thought-provoking hands reviewed on the blog this year — the best of the best.
(We included a mix of tournament, cash game, and heads-up hands, so there’s something for everyone.)
Let’s dive in.
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5. Jungleman Hits $825,635 Straight Flush vs Phil Ivey’s Quads
A straight flush. Quads. Phil Ivey. Daniel “Jungleman” Cates. A recreational player squeezing way too small preflop. This high stakes cash game hand has it all.
4. Hellmuth Crushes Negreanu’s Soul with 8♣ 3♣ (Analysis by Polk & Negreanu)
Daniel Negreanu did a lot of trash talking before battling Phil Hellmuth on PokerGo’s High Stakes Duel earlier this year. Phil responded with this absolutely savage line in which he 3-bet and called a 4-bet preflop with 83s and proceeded to make an unorthodox move to steal the pot postflop.
In this hand analysis article, Daniel talks over the hand with Doug Polk as the bitter rivals put aside their differences to try to decipher what Phil was thinking in this interesting hand.
3. Doug Polk Flops a Straight vs Phil Hellmuth — And Lays It Down?!
This hand was the talk of the poker world right after it aired on the newest season of High Stakes Poker (on PokerGo) early this year. After (loosely) defending his big blind, Doug Polk flops the second nut straight on a draw heavy board. What happens next is beyond entertaining and, if you’re a fan of Doug, so, so delicious.
2. The $2.5 Million Bluff That Changed The Poker World Forever
No one knows what the poker world would look like today had Sammy Farha defeated Chris Moneymaker heads-up in the 2003 WSOP Main Event, but I highly doubt the game would be even close to as big as it is today.
This ambitious bluff from Mr. Moneymaker is arguably the most consequential hand from this one-on-one battle. Thank the poker gods it got through.
1. The Final Hand of the 2021 WSOP Main Event
The last hand of the world’s biggest tournament is a popular discussion topic every year, but it truly takes over the poker world when it’s as interesting as this one.
Thanks for Spending Time with Us This Year
From the entire Upswing Poker family, I want to thank you for every second you spent on this website this year. The motivation to help people get better at and have more fun playing this amazing game is a big part of what keeps us going every day.
We’ll be back next week for our final article of 2021 — a list of the best Upswing Poker strategy articles from the past 12 months.
Take care!
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