Bad Timing: A Look at Five Big Bluffs Gone Wrong

The art of the bluff is a key part of poker and is a critical concept that sets the game apart from others. A well-timed bluff can send a pot to a player with an inferior hand and perhaps leave an opponent frustrated.

Who can forget Chris Moneymaker’s “bluff of the century” from the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event that helped propel him on to victory against Sami Farha. But sometimes a player attempts a bluff at the exact wrong time and finds himself in quite the bear trap.

Players also caught bluffing also siphon off a major chunk of their own chip stacks. There are some major risk-reward considerations when considering those major bluffs. In the age of televised poker, many of these attempts are also captured on camera for all the world to see.

Here’s a look at some big bluffs that didn’t turn out quite like these players intended.

1 – Record-setting Pot After Gargantuan Bluff
The biggest hand in U.S. poker cash game streaming history played out in February 2023 on PokerGO and created quite a buzz. The action played out on the No Gamble, No Future “Cash of the Titans” live stream and produced a pot of almost $2 million in a hand involving poker legend Patrik Antonius and high stakes regular and Maverick Gaming CEO Eric Persson.

Persson is a fearless cash game player and showed that in this hand with some nice skills at the table, despite the results this time. After Persson opened with a raise to $7,000 holding Qh9h, Rob Yong called with Ac2c. That brought a three-bet to $30,000 from Antonius with AhKh

Persson and Yong called and the flop brought 3h3c8h. Antonius then put out another $40,000 and Persson quickly raised to $140,000. Yong folded and Antonius thought a bit before three-betting to $250,000 as he and Persson both sat on flush draws. The bet was called and the pot moved to a hefty $594,000.

“Let’s go,” Persson said after making the call. When the As came on the turn, Antonius had the best hand and could only possibly lose to a bluff. Persson was going to try and make that happen. Antonius led out with $150,000, but Persson put him to the test by shipping the remainder of his stack for $692,000.

“What do you have?” Antonius replied, but ultimately called. He raked a record-setting pot of $1,978,000 and delivered a massive punch to Persson’s chip stack.