A few weeks ago, the final episodes of the 11th season of High Stakes Poker were released on PokerGO. We have already talked about the first half of the season.
Andrew Robl, who even then did not leave his opponents a chance, this time seemed to select the lineup himself. He was the only professional at the table; his opponents included Rob Yong, Jennifer Tilly, Indonesian actor William Tjokro, one of the world's youngest billionaires Stanley Tang, and experienced amateur Bob Bright.
The game was played with blinds of $200/$400 and an ante of $500.
Initial stacks:
A little later, Jean-Robert Bellande joined the game with a stack of $100k.
In the new lineup, nothing fundamentally changed for Robl. Already in one of the first hands, he got a gutshot.
In a hand with two straddles, Robl opened with a $3,200 min-raise and paid Tjokro's $15,000 reraise from the SB. On the flop, Tjokro bet $15,000 and called the all-in.
– Once or twice? – Andrew clarified.
“Decide for yourself,” William tried to shift the responsibility.
– I don't care.
– Then once.
Andrew really begged for a five and it came on the river.
– I love High Stakes Poker! – Robl pleased the producers.
– Bob, how many years have we been watching this? – Bellande shook his head with displeasure. – It’s the same thing every time.
The debutant did not have time to exhale when he lost another stack.
Stanley Tang limped on the button with J9s, Tjokro raised $6,000 from the SB, and Bellande 3-bet $20,000 on the straddle. On the flop, William check-called $15,000, checked the turn, JRB shoved on the river and was quickly called.
“Sorry, buddy,” Bellande said as he showed the nuts. – Cruel river.
JRB soon left the studio and was replaced by Rick Salomon. Moreover, Bellande left his stack, and Rick calmly continued to play with his chips.
“Instead of the person who is the easiest to bluff in the world, we got a person who is simply impossible to bluff,” Robl was not very happy about the replacement.
The Indonesian guest's troubles continued in a hand against Bob Bright.
Tjokro opened early, Bright was right behind him and four other players called. Postflop, Tjokro bet three barrels for half the pot. Bright called, as did Tilly on the flop with . On the turn, Jennifer folded.
“The club scared me, so I didn’t raise,” Bright opened his cards.
“And I would have made the straight if I hadn’t thrown it away like a cowardly ***,” Tilly swore.
In the last hand of the episode, Rob Yong made a set and won a big pot without a showdown.
Salomon opened with an early raise of $5,000 with 66, Tilly and Yong in the blinds paid, Robl squeezed $30,000 on a straddle with Q7s, no one folded. On the flop, Robl bet $15,000 into a $122,000 pot, Salomon folded, Tilly raised to $45,000, Yong called, Robl folded. The turn went check-check, and on the river Robl announced all-in. Tilly kept the last $50,000.
Stanley Tang, who probably has more money than all the other players combined, played the first episode with a VPIP of 7%. The second he began to be more active.
Preflop, Stanley raised, Tjokro raised to $5,000, and Tilly called on the button with A5o. On the flop, only Tang paid a continuation bet of $6,000, the turn was checked, and on the river Tang took the pot with a check-raise.
In the next hand, Stanley Tang got in preflop against Jennifer Tilly's aces and lost both boards.
Bob Bright correctly folded a set of queens.
Tjokro opened with tens, Bright followed him with a call, and Salomon's $6,200 squeeze in the CO was also called by both. On the flop, Salomon bet half the pot, Tjokro folded, and Bright called. On the turn, Bob led out and folded to a raise.
“I wouldn’t do that to an 84-year-old man,” Rob Yong reproached Rick.
A couple of hands later, Bob was dealt a set under set against the same Salomon, and the experienced businessman folded again.
Preflop, Bob opened with a $2,000 raise, Rick on the button, Yong on the BB and Robl on the straddle called. Bright bet half the pot on the flop and turn and Salomon called both times. On the river, Bob bet $21,000 into a $41,000 pot and surrendered to the raise.
In the new episode, Farah Galfond, Matt Berkey, Ferdinand Putra and Jason Koon joined the game. Stanley Tang, Rob Yong and Jennifer Tilly remain from the previous cast.
Farah started the session with an unsuccessful bluff for her stack.
Farah opened with a $3,500 raise and called Rob's $15,000 3-bet. She check-called $15,000 on the flop, checked the turn, and shoved Farah on the river.
Tilly and Berkey played a small 5-bet pot.
Berkey cold-called a $10,000 4-bet with tens and called a $30,000 5-bet. Jennifer bet $40,000 on the flop.
“I wouldn’t pay more than $10,000,” Matt threw it away and showed his cards.
A couple of hands later, Berkey went in on the turn with aces and found that he had no outs.
Berkey opened from the button, Yong called, and Galfond called with A6s in the blinds. On the flop, Matt called a check-raise of $12,000 after a bet of $2,500. On the turn, Rob bet $35,000 into a $31,000 pot and promptly called the all-in.
– How many times do we run it?
“I have no outs,” Berkey winced. – One is enough.
Matt rebought and got kings almost immediately. It was not possible to win with them either.
Berkey 3-bet preflop, check-raised the flop, and bet $30,000 into the $38,000 pot on the turn. Jennifer called, hit her out on the river, and bet $50,000.
“Here you go, Rob,” Matt threw the cards across the table. – You can play for me.
– Look how it suits you! Big pairs are constantly being dealt out.
Farah and Rob were dealt an action flop in a 3-bet pot.
They agreed to run it once, and Galfond’s outs didn’t come.
The new episode featured another cast change. Only Jennifer Tilly retained her seat, Rick Salomon and Jean Robert-Bellande returned, and they were joined by Brandon Steven and little-known businessmen Bobo Chann and Justin Gavri.
Tilly and Salomon got it in preflop. Jennifer turned out to be better but lost both boards.
After making a rebuy, Jennifer immediately sent another stack to Salomon.
Rick 3-bet $10,000, Tilly reraised to $40,000 and called the all-in.
– Actually, you should have folded my 4-bet, didn’t they teach you that in poker school?
“I’ve never been to one of these,” Rick laughed.
“Perhaps he was hoping to double you,” suggested Rob Yong.
Rick lost his stacks with the same smile.
Brandon Steven raised preflop and bet three barrels. Rick called on the flop and turn, and went all-in on the river.
– Nice hand! – the showdown made Salomon laugh. – They told me never to slowplay!
Cheerful crypto investor Bobo Chann and unlucky Jennifer Tilly got it in on the flop. The result was not quite a standard coinflip.
Chann opened, Salomon called in the SB 3-bet $10,000, Tilly called from the BB, Chann 4-bet $42,000 and received two calls. On the flop, Tilly shoved, Salomon folded.
“It will be fair to divide,” the participants agreed to run it twice.
However, Jennifer's outs did not come, she asked for more chips.
Jean-Robert Bellande pleased the commentators with a funny prank against Salomon.
Rick opened with a raise and called the 3-bet. On the flop, JRB bet $4,000 into an $11,000 pot, Rick checked-raised to $18,000 and immediately folded all-in.
“A small bet doesn’t mean I have nothing, buddy,” Bellande said morally. – Sometimes this happens, but not always.
“It doesn’t matter to me at all,” replied Salomon. – I was just upset that the flop didn’t suit me and tried to steal the pot.
“But Rick thanks you for the lesson,” Rob Yong winked.
“You’re in a bit of an aggressive mood today,” Brandon Steven noted.
– My mood has not changed for 30 years, we just haven’t seen each other for a long time.
Jennifer Tilly's streak of bad luck continued.
Tilly straddled and called Rick's $3,000 raise.
– I’ll bet it in secret, how much do you say – $3k, $4k or $5k?
“I’m not going to participate in your gambling addiction, you’re doing a great job on your own.”
Rick chose $5,000 and check-called $10,000 on the turn. On the river, Salomon checked and Jennifer bet $15,000 into the $37,000 pot.
“I'm sure I have a good hand,” Rick checked his cards and announced a raise. – Or am I still bluffing?
Tilly thought for a long time, thinking out loud, but could not throw it away. After this hand, she decided to take a break and left the studio.
Only Bellande was able to stop Salomon.
JRB put a straddle and called the raise, Rick c-bet on the flop, and check-raised from $15,000 to $30,000 on the turn. Bellande pretended that the raise caused him unimaginable pain, but still made the call, overcoming the agony. Rick bet $50,000 on the river, Jean-Robert quickly moved to $110,000 and got called.
– And Jean-Robert wins the Oscar! – commentator Nick Shulman praised him for his acting.
In one of the first hands in the next episode Bellande had and played a 3-bet/fold against Salomon, who showed him 42o. Shulman then called this decision “the worst fold in the history of poker.” The new episode began with another big and erroneous fold from JRB.
Tilly returned to the table and immediately bet a straddle of $6,200, Bellande behind her on the button announced a raise of $20,000 and received four calls. On the flop, JRB c-bet, Rick raised to $150,000.
Bellande thought:
– Could you play like that with ? Undoubtedly. What about a six? Easily. I could do it with jacks too. But with hardly. Okay, I’ll fold a very strong one against you again, Rick.
JRB showed his cards. Rick showed off his with a laugh.
Jennifer Tilly had and with a stack of $200k, she 3-bet $41,600 and folded to an all-in from Rob Yong.
Brandon Steven tried to bluff Salomon.
Steven called a 3-bet preflop, the flop was check-checked, and Rick paid two big bets on the turn and river.
Having won another pot, Rick Salomon opened up a little.
– Once I was playing with a guy named Sam. This was our third or fourth session; in the first two with him, everyone came away with positive results, except me. This time it worked out great for me, I was in the black by a couple of million. We played all night, at 10 in the morning he suddenly began to pray to the devil and said: “That’s it, we made a deal, now you have no chance.” And indeed from that moment everything turned upside down, I could no longer win a single hand. At the peak, I won $2.5 million, but before I knew it, I was already losing $1.5 million. This continued until three days later, and the thought even occurred to me: “What if it’s true about the devil?” Something unimaginable was happening. At 6 PM he ran out of cocaine, and he offered to continue with him. Before that, he didn’t even know what a fold was, but then he suddenly started throwing everything away, moreover, when I had strong combinations. It all ended with a $4.5 million pot preflop. I had against his . We ran three times and each time the turn came a 6. That's a deal with the devil.
“Wow, that’s a story,” marveled second commentator AJ Benza. – This is what another era of poker means.
– Another? – Nick Shulman did not understand. – It was a couple of years ago.
“I thought Rick hadn’t been using lately.”
– And he didn’t accept anything, unlike his opponent. I know who we're talking about, Sam is no longer alive.
– But this isn’t about Sam Simon, is it? (Ed. – one of the authors of “The Simpsons”, ex-husband of Jennifer Tilly and a big fan of poker. Died of cancer in 2015 )
– No, no, about the other Sam from Los Angeles. Absolutely crazy guy. I only played with him once. In the middle of the action, he pulled out a silver pistol, loaded it, then snorted the biggest line of cocaine I've ever seen and started waving the gun around. “Not such a profitable game,” I thought and ran away from there. Rick took my place and won $7 million that evening.
In the last hand, Salomon and Steven were dealt set under set.
Preflop Bobo Chann with raised to $30,000 and received three calls. Rick bet $42,000 on the flop, Steven called and check-push on the turn. The river was opened twice, but the one out did not come.
– I threw away “, – Chann said with a constant smile.
“Very valuable information, thank you,” Steven tilted a little.
Separately, it is worth noting Justin Gavri, who in the first episode had a VPIP of 13, in the second he began to play even more strictly and did not see the flop even once.
The final episode of the first season began in the usual manner – Salomon won a big pot.
Preflop, three players called Tilly's straddle. On the flop, Bellande overbet $5,000 to $3,700. On the turn, Jennifer bet $15,000, JRB raised to $35,000 and received two calls.
– Have you checked everything? – Salomon was a little surprised on the river. – And I have a flush!
– How could you not reraise on the turn? – Bellande did not understand.
– I'm just having fun.
Steven and Salomon were up for another huge pot.
Rick raised to $15,000 and paid a generous 3-bet of $73,000, and the flop saw Brandon shove and get snap-called.
They ran twice, and Salomon won both times. The first river was the , then on the second turn – .
“Have fun,” Brandon decided to end there.
Salomon didn’t have to look for a new victim for long.
Rick 3-bet $12,000 and four players paid. On the flop his continuation bet was supported by Chann and Tilly with . The turn was checked, and on the river Rick took $110k from the crypto millionaire.
Gavri suddenly woke up, made a 3-bet, but was immediately called to account.
But then Justin still managed to take advantage of his image.
Three players called Salomon's preflop raise, and Tilly bet $10,000 into the $16,000 pot on the flop. Gavri paid and took the pot with a check-raise on the turn. Jennifer admitted that she was pleased with the ace, but she still didn’t dare to call.
At the very end of the session, Jennifer still managed to win a big pot.
Gavri went completely wild and 3-bet with KJo, Chann announced a 4-bet for $20,000, which only Jennifer called. On the flop, Chunn bet $20,000 and called a raise to $60,000. The turn was check-checked, and on the river Tilly shoved.
At the end of the second half of the season, Rick Salomon won $995,400. Rob Yong ($181,200) and Jean-Robert Bellande ($166,300) also posted six-figure profits.
Bobo Chunn lost $213,600, Tilly finished in the red by $254,500, and Brandon Steven was the biggest loser with $625,200.
