Lesson from a legendary hand

When it comes to legendary poker hands, the final hand of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event certainly ranks among the most storied. That tournament saw 350 players put up the $10,000 buy-in, and it came down to Scotty Nguyen and Kevin McBride battling it out for a top prize of $1 million.

The final hand began when McBride raised to 50,000 from the button holding the Qh 10h and Nguyen called from the big blind with Jd 9c. McBride went to the flop as a 65.6 percent favorite.

When the flop came down 8c 9h 9d, Nguyen became a 94.9 percent favorite. He checked his trips, and McBride bet 100,000 with his gutshot straight draw. Nguyen just called, and the dealer burned and turned the 8h, which put two pair on the board.

Nguyen, who improved to a full house, checked to McBride, who held straight and flush draws. Little did McBride know that the only out he had was the Jh for a straight flush, a card that would come just 2.3 percent of the time. Still, he bet another 100,000, which Nguyen called.

The 8s river was an interesting card, as it put a full house on the board, eights full of nines. Nguyen, who had the better full house with nines full of eights, took the initiative and moved all in.

McBride, who had 310,000 remaining in his stack, was playing the board, and unless his opponent held either the case eight, a nine or a big pocket pair, it would be a chopped pot. Given that McBride had half of his stack invested in the hand, it was a tough decision.

Nguyen stood up, grabbed a beer and uttered what would become one of the most famous lines in the history of highstakes poker.

“You call, it’s gonna be all over, baby,” Nguyen said.

That seemed to be the nudge needed to send his opponent over the edge. “I call,” said McBride. “I play the board.” Nguyen then rolled over his hand and shot both arms in the air.

That hand, which took place two decades ago and is immortalized online, is a prime example of why it’s better to be the one shoving than the one calling off. Even if Nguyen didn’t have a nine and was playing the board, showing enough chutzpah to move all in would have put McBride to the same test.

Of course, if Nguyen had been bluffing, McBride would have passed that test and the pot would have been chopped. Still, there are a lot of players who would have released their hand in such a spot. That was the beauty of Nguyen’s shove. He made his opponent ask himself the ques- tion: “Does he have it or not?”

Nguyen’s magic words simply helped him seal the deal.