UUnfortunately for American poker fanatics, televised poker in the US has declined significantly since Black Friday.  While the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour are still televised, lack of sponsorship for shows like “High Stakes Poker”, “Poker After Dark” and the “Big Game” killed them off.  Those programs showcased highly skilled poker at the highest stakes and the fascinating personalities of the players involved.  Put several big personalities around a poker table for hours and hours and funny moments are inevitable.  ADANAI presents its list of Top 10 Funniest Poker Hands of All Time:

10: Tony G Re-Igniting the Cold War
Ever have your opponent call your bet and wonder what the hell he/she is doing? Proper etiquette in this circumstance is to hold your tongue.  Berating your opponent isn’t called for and can be downright rude.  That being said, wouldn’t it feel good to throw out etiquette every once in a while in favor of calling attention to your opponents bad play?  Australian poker pro Tony Guoga (or Tony G as most call him) does just that – all of the time.  In this clip he takes berating a player to a new level.  And he does it after winning the pot!  While extremely rude, his antics are pretty damn funny.

 

9: Sammy Farha and Jamie Gold should have a sitcom

This classic hand between two of the best showmen in poker made ADANAI’s Top 10 Greatest Televised Poker Hands but beyond being a great poker hand, it is pretty damn funny.  Farha’s facial expressions and commentary make this hand worth watching over and over again.  When high stakes cash games get back on television in the US, Jamie Gold and Sammy Farha better be part of it.  Their styles of play and personalities contrast well with the methodic and quiet ways of the new-age player.

 

8: JRB runs really bad

Poker pro / “Survivor” alum Jean-Robert Bellande has got to be one of the unluckiest poker players out there.  He takes bad beat after bad beat.  His Twitter feed has two basic themes: bad beat stories and pictures of him at clubs with good-looking girls.  Every tournament poker player has been in a situation where you are all-in with the best hand and get called by a much worse hand that still has a chance, albeit slight, to catch up.  While probability theory indicates that all players should lose in these situations the same percentage of times, Bellande’s experience challenges everything you ever learned in a textbook.  Dozens of Bellande bad beat clips can be found on YouTube but this is one of the best. In this one, Bellande’s big personality and character makes it almost comedic – “Don’t send me home with the 10 9! Please, don’t send me home with the 10 9!”

 

7: Hello, is anyone home?

Pre-Full Tilt debacle, Chris Ferguson was one of the most beloved poker pros in the industry.  His nickname is “Jesus” which says it all.  His table temperament has always been on the quiet side but this clip takes that to a new level.  Pay attention to Phil Ivey’s facial expressions – hilarious.

 

6: Phil Laak is the best

Poker pro Phil Laak has one of the coolest nicknames in the poker world – “The Unabomber.”  It stems from the similarity between his trademark hooded sweatshirt look that of domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski.  Kaczynski was said to have off the charts intelligence.  Laak does not disappoint in the smarts department either – thankfully, this is where their similarities end.  You know when you speak to someone that is so smart they’re hard to follow? Watch Laak’s hilarious attempt to work out Tom Dwan’s river bet for a prime example.

 

5: Tom Dwan has come a long way

This hand comes from the 2008 NBC heads-up tournament.  The actual poker hand is a standard bad beat but the funny part is Tom Dwan’s awkwardness.  Phil Hellmuth is Phil Hellmuth but Tom Dwan is the story in this one.  While he is now a club going extravert with a hot girlfriend, back in 2008 he clearly spent most of his time in front of his computer playing online poker.  Notice his inability to maintain eye contact.  He looks like a 13-year-old boy on his first date.

 

4: Tony G “Regulate”

Being one of the funniest guys in poker, Tony G had to make this list twice.  In this clip from the Fox/Pokerstars “Big Game” he goes at young online poker pro Andrew Robl pretty hard.  The clash between the stoic online youngster and the grizzled Tony G creates some pretty funny dialog during a hand when Robl is in the tank trying to decide his next move: “On the Internet you play in like 1 second, when you come here now, you come to my game and you are wasting my time!” Robl tries to come back with a few really awkward one liners that are so bad that you have to laugh – now it’s clear why Robl never really talks.

 

3: Is it legal to get drunk on TV?

Most recreational poker players have been there.  Playing poker with some friends and that combination of too much beer, too little food and sitting on your butt leads to the land of three sheets.  For most, the downside is poor poker play and losing your stack.  For poker pro Gavin Smith, this drunken episode on NBC’s “Poker After Dark” led to national humiliation.  Telling heads-up opponent Phil Ivey that he doesn’t like his attitude is pretty special. Constantly yelling “Cocktails!” makes for some pretty good TV as well.  Phil Ivey has one of the best poker faces in the game but even he can’t hold in his laughter.  The good news is that this incident probably played a role in Smith cutting back on his drinking.  He subsequently took down his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 2010.

 

2: Spanish shenanigans

You know something is really funny when it is funny in subtitles.  The poker shenanigans in this one are priceless.  One player accidentally shows his cards and the mind games ensue.  The Spanish commentators make this a classic.  The references to Don Quixote are pure gold.  American poker commentator Joe Stapleton can reach this level of high brow humor but unfortunately these days the US poker viewing audience is stuck with ESPN’s Norman Chad and his repetitive shtick.

 

1: Italian folk poker dance

Ignore the fact that Italian pro Filippo Candio makes a silly call (how does one put their tournament life at risk in that spot?).  The gem of this clip is his reaction to the end of the hand.  No words can describe it so just watch.  And make sure you aren’t drinking anything because you will spit it out.  Candio should still be ashamed for looking so ridiculous on international TV.

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