In our Poker Hand Analysis feature every week, we bring you a gripping hand from the live poker scene. Today, we feature a thrilling hand that occurred at the 2024 World Series of Poker (WSOP) in Event #55: $250K Super High Roller No-Limit Hold’em. This event was ultimately won by India’s high-roller sensation Santhosh Suvarna, who triumphed over a star-studded field of 75 entries, claiming a career-high $5,415,152 and his second WSOP bracelet. Suvarna’s historic victory marked India’s first WSOP Super High Roller title and the highest score by an Indian in the live poker tournament space.
The WSOP 2024 Event #55: $250K Super High Roller featured several thrilling hands, including one involving poker legend Phil Ivey and Ben Tollerene, who eventually finished runner-up for $3,537,135.
The Hand
With blinds set at 200k/400k-400k (BB ante), the action folded to Phil Ivey on the button, who raised to 800,000. Ben Tollerene made the call from the big blind, and both players took to the flop.
Flop: 10♠ 5♠ 5♥
Tollerene checked to Ivey, who bet 600,000. Tollerene then raised to 1,600,000 to apply pressure. Ivey responded by moving all-in for 4,175,000, and Tollerene made the call. The cards were revealed:
Phil Ivey: Q♥ Q♦
Ben Tollerene: K♦ 10♣
Ivey’s pocket pair was looking strong and was ahead by the turn 3♠. Unfortunately for Ivey, the river brought K♠. Tollerene hit his king, cracking pocket queens and ending Ivey’s dream for 12th bracelet in this tournament.
Although Ivey, who recently claimed his 11th gold bracelet and $347,440 for his victory in the WSOP 224 Event #29: $10,000 2-7 Triple Draw Championship event, he fell short of his 12th bracelet in this event, he walked away with an impressive $506,757 for his strong showing.
Ivey’s Hand Analysis
Ivey’s aggressive move with a raise from the button with Q♥ Q♦ was a textbook example of leveraging his hand strength to apply pressure. His pre-flop raise was a standard one, aiming to extract value and potentially take down the blinds and ante uncontested. Tollerene’s call from the big blind position was understandable as he also had a decent hand with K♦ 10♣ to defend against Ivey’s button raise, considering the possibility of flopping well or outplaying Ivey post-flop.
Ivey’s continuation bet of 600k on the flop 10♠ 5♠ 5♥ was standard as he was probably looking to extract value and protect his overpair. However, Tollerene’s check-raise to 1,600,000 with top pair with a good kicker was a strategic move to probably understand or test the strength of Ivey’s hand and possibly take the pot down without a showdown.
In a move to maximize value, Ivey moved all-in on the flop, believing his overpair was ahead. Tollerene’s call, though a bit risky, was based on the assumption that his top pair was good against Ivey’s possible range of hands.
The turn 3♠ changed nothing, but the river K♠ dramatically shifted the hand in Tollerene’s favour, as he improved to two pairs on the river, eliminating Ivey from the highest buy-in WSOP tournament of the summer.
This hand from WSOP 2024 underscores the dynamic interplay of positional advantages, hand strength, and aggressive play. While Ivey’s moves were well-executed, Tollerene’s resilience and calculated risk-taking ability paid off, earning him the coveted pot to ladder up and eventually finish as the runner-up.
Watch the video below to know what happened in this epic hand from the 2024 World Series of Poker!
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