Eight Great Back-to-Back Poker Performances
The 2014 World Series of Poker played down to its final table earlier this week and there was a familiar face at it, that of Mark Newhouse.
Newhouse managed to reach the final table to become a member of the November Nine a year after he did the same thing, which is a remarkable feat. In this article we take a look at Newhouse's achievements and another seven superb back-to-back poker performances.
Mark Newhouse
Mark Newhouse is the talk of the town at the moment thanks to him finishing ninth in the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event and somehow managing to navigate his way through to the final table of the 2014 edition!
In 2013 there were 6,352 entrants and another 6,683 this time around!
Dan Harrington
Dan Harrington won the WSOP Main Event in 1995, itself a great achievement, but an even better one was when he finished third in the 2003 Main Event and then fourth the year after in fields of 839 and 2,576, and until Newhouse was the only player to reach back-to-back WSOP Main Event final tables since the "Moneymaker Boom."
Layne Flack
With a nickname of "Back-to-Back" you'd expect Layne Flack to have won back to back titles. You'd be correct to expect that because at the 2003 WSOP Flack won the $2,500 Omaha Hi-Low event and jumped straight into the $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout, which he also won!
The previous year, Flack won the $2,000 No Limit Hold'em event and two weeks later won a $1,500 event.
Marvin Rettenmaier
In 2012, Marvin Rettenmaier became the first player in World Poker Tour history to win back-to-back titles. The popular guitar playing German took down the season-ending $25,500 WPT World Championship and then won the opening event of the following season in Cyprus.
Doyle Brunson
Although both of Doyle Brunson's WSOP Main Event wins in 1976 and 1977 only had 22 and 34 entrants respectively, the fact his final hand on both occasions was the lowly ten-deuce is worthy of an entry here.
The hand ten-deuce is now affectionately known as "The Texas Dolly."
Stu Ungar
The late Stu Ungar won back-to-back WSOP Main Events in 1980 and 1981 and then added a third title in 1997, his last cash before his death.
While Ungar played in tournaments that had a relatively low number of entrants in them, he still goes down in history as one of the best players to have ever picked up some playing cards. Such a shame he couldn't overcome his inner demons.
Johnny Chan
Living legend Johnny Chan won the 1987 and 1988 WSOP Main Event, a superb achievement on its own. But then he almost won three consecutive Main Events when he found himself heads-up in the 1989 edition.
Chan eventually lost to a certain Phil Hellmuth and we all know how Hellmuth progressed from there.
Max Heinzelmann
Germany's Max Heinzelmann helped himself to an unwanted double of back-to-back runner-up finishes in the extremely tough European Poker Tour.
Heinzelmann came second in the Berlin Main Event for €500,000 and then second in the San Remo Main Event for €600,000.
What are your favourite back-to-back poker performances? Let us know in the comments box below.
Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.
