PokerStars compiles Live Poker’s Top 5 Explosions, #1 No Surprise

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As far as skill-based competitions go, live poker is a rather unique game. If you’ve ever sat in the rails during a tournament, or watched an ultra high stakes cash game on the telly, you know what I’m talking about.

The atmosphere is one of muted calm and intense concentration. There’s very little talking that goes on throughout the majority of the game, overcast by the more common – if not incessant – rattling of poker chips.

It’s that same cavernous level of concentration that tends to put live poker players on edge, each nerve stretched so taught beneath the skin, a person could literally snap at the drop of a hat – or a decimating river card, as often the case may be.

Professional poker players spend their lives training themselves to remain calm and collected under the most crushing pressure; to maintain a porcelain poker face and never show the slightest hint of emotion. But when the stakes are at their highest, and nerves stretched to their breaking point, the live poker tables can tap into a vein of molten emotions rarely seen around the felt.

It’s scarce moments like these that provoked PokerStars to piece together a cringe-inducing video of what they considered to be the top 5 emotional explosions caught on film during PokerStars-sponsored events throughout the years.

[Want to skip the jabber? Scroll down to watch the video now.]

Most of the moments revealed in the video are the result of bad beats. Again, having the fortitude to play live poker in such a demanding field should come with the self-discipline to avoid such an emotional discharge, even following a deadly river card, but sometimes, as you’ll see in a moment, the tension just becomes too high.

Then again, other moments were instigated by an outright disregard for what professionals consider proper gameplay. Calling all the way to the river without even top card, despite an opponent dropping 3-bets to incite a fold, isn’t something the pros take kindly.

Then again, a pro with an even lower hand 3-betting so close to the showdown isn’t exactly a praise-worthy strategy either. But it does make for great entertainment for those of us sitting back, watching the action unfold – much like some NASCAR fans who rarely admit their obsession to watch stems from a morbid fascination with witnessing vehicular crashes.

For those of you familiar with today’s top professional poker players, it won’t take much guessing to figure out who made the #1 spot, and without giving too much away, I would at least like to thank PokerStars for taking the approach they did in regards to this live poker phenom’s tumultuous state of emotional frailty.

And now, without further ado, please sit back, relax and prepare to laugh and/or cringe at the following 10 minutes of lovingly compiled video footage of live poker’s ‘best of the worst’…