Preflop Hole Cards
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Tom Dwan : 7♣ 2♠
One of the absolute worst starting hands in Hold'em. It's off-suit, disconnected, no high cards—pure trash. -
Rui Cao : 8♣ 7♥
Slightly better than Dwan’s hand, but still weak and usually not playable unless in a very loose-aggressive dynamic.
Board: A♦ 5♥ Q♠ A♣ K♠
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No one makes a pair. No straight draws. No flushes. The best hand is simply eight- (Rui Cao)
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Tom endseven-high.
Showdown
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Rui Cao wins with 8♣7♥, beating Dwan's 7♣2♠ — but not because of value. He simply has the higher garbage.
🧠 Strategic Analysis
This hand is less about standard poker theory and more about psychology, image, and leveling wars.
🕵️ Preflop
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It’s possible both players are deep-stacked, exploiting dynamics and playing extremely loose in position. Dwan may be trying to steal or set up a play later. Rui may be isolating or countering.
🤯 Postflop to River
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The board runs out A♦ 5♥ Q♠ A♣ K♠ — scary, high-card heavy, perfect for repping a big hand.
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Neither player hits any piece of this board.
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To get to a showdown, it’s likely one of them made a massive bluff, and the other called it down with nothing, trying to sniff it out.
🔥 Why This Hand Is Absolutely Insane
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Garbage vs. Trash – Literally two of the worst possible holdings, and they end up battling to the river in a pot worth over half a million euros. This isn’t poker—it’s a psychological warzone.
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Zero Showdown Value – Both players knew they had no shot at winning without a fold. Yet they played it out to the end, which implies extreme levels of:
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Confidence
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Metagame leveling
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History or reads between the two
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Rui Cao Wins With 8-High – That sentence alone tells you everything. You rarely see 8-high win at showdown in nosebleed stakes—ever.
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Tom Dwan Still Sent It – “Durrrr” is legendary for fearless plays, but going this deep with 7♣2♠, in a pot this size, is on-brand and still jaw-dropping. Either he tried a monstrous bluff on the turn or river and got called by an opponent who knows him too well, or he floated all streets with intentions to take it away.
🧠 What Makes This Hand Legendary
This is a pure heart and metagame hand. It’s not about cards—it’s about who can outplay who. And that’s what makes high-stakes poker so absurdly beautiful and sometimes unhinged.
Both players essentially said:
“I don’t care what I’m holding. I care what you think I’m holding.”
And Rui Cao said, “I think you’re full of it,” and called down with 8-high. In a €655,000 pot.
🎬 Summary
Two fearless sharks. Zero made hands. €655,000 on the line.
This is what happens when ego, reads, and guts collide at the top levels of poker.
An 8-high hand makes the highlight reel—not for brilliance, but for absolute brass.
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