2007 WSOP Event 51 - S.H.O.E. $1,000

  Usually when most of us think of a miracle it involves water being turned into something that would prompt a smile from California grape farmers. Other things that fall squarely into the "miraculous" category are Raquel Welch and the fact that she is more enticing while pushing 70 than the sleaziest modern celebutante; driving through the city of Detroit without someone popping a cap in you; and any circumstance that would have Carrie Underwood posing for a Hugh Hefner publication (this hasn't happened, but would be a miracle if it did). Some miracles happen with playing cards. Dao Bac was on the happy side of one such miracle on his way to an Event 51 victory.  With 160,000 in the pot, and his opponent all in, Bac and his adversary, Adam Geyer, each had a pair of sevens. Unfortunately for Dao, Adam had an Ace as his kicker. Considering that the board wasn't very helpful, and Bac was holding a four in his hand along with his seven, going up against that Ace kicker was like watching Mr. T in a boxing match with William Hung. In short, things looked bleak.  A miracle happened on the river. The final card to fall was a four. This gave Dao Bac a two-pair (and a rather anemic one at that) but it was enough to put him over the pair of sevens that Adam Geyer was pinning his tournament hopes on. The chips were pushed into a pile in from of Dao, and the championship was his.  Had Geyer won that hand, the tournament obviously would have continued and the shift in momentum (as well as the chip count) may have changed the outcome. We always love to watch skilled poker play during WSOP tournaments, but it is fun to see something decided by a miracle card from a fickle deck.PlacePlayerPrize1Dao Bac$157,9752Adam Geyer$86,6913Chip Jett$55,8014Raymond Davis$34,0125Irme Leibold$26,5726Vladimir Schelev$20,7937Michael Craig$15,9438Pat Poels$11,9579Eric Tomberlin$8,171