The Triton channel posted three episodes of an expensive cash game that took place during the London leg. The series took place in August, we talked in detail about the tournament part.
Cash games were played with blinds of 1,000/2,000/2,000. Participants – Andrew Roble, Elton Tsang, Wiktor Malinovsky, Daniel Cates, Danny Tang, and Tan Xuan – each bought in for $300,000.
– When will we start stand-up? – the episode began with Jungleman’s question.
“From the very beginning,” Roble answered, “we’ll play like this non-stop, but you don’t need to get up, there are special cards.”
Chinese high rollers gave this format its name – “squid game”. The rules are simple – to get the coveted card, you need to win the hand and show your cards. The last player remaining pays the others $10k.
Already in the first hand, Limitless and Xuan built up a pot of more than $600k.
Wiktor opened from early position, and three players called. On the flop, Tsang bet $15,000 with T3o, Malinovsky called, Xuan raised to $85,000, and called Wiktor's all-in.
“Damn, I had the best hand,” Elton said, upset.
They agreed to run it twice, the king came on the first turn, the flush hit on the second board, and the pot was chopped.
“Everything is fair,” rejoiced Malinovsky, who received a pleasant bonus in the form of a “stand-up” card for winning the first board.
In the next hand, Xuan opened with K5o in the cutoff, everything was folded to Malinovsky in the BB with J3o, he thought a little and also folded his cards.
– What is this? – Tsang was indignant. – You can’t give cards to others so easily. Except for me.
The loser of the first round of stand-up was determined in the head-to-head confrontation between Robl and Danny Tang.
Cates limped on the CO with Q4s, Tang on the button raised 10x, and Andrew called in the BB. On the flop, Tang c-bet and the rest of the streets checked.
“You saved yourself a lot of money by checking the turn,” Roble encouraged his opponent.
“He played cowardly,” Tan Xuan did not hesitate to assess.
Tang lost the stand-up and counted out $10k to his opponents.
“And this squid game is a very funny thing,” Robl laughed. – When there are two people left, it’s very similar to a bubble in a tournament. About the same pressure.
– Shall we continue stand-up? – Cates clarified and, having received an affirmative answer, opened with 53s, Robl and Tsang called in the blinds.
The flop was checked, Cates bet on the turn, Robl called, and both folded to Tsang's raise.
– Why did you throw it away? – Xuan asked Jungleman. – It was an obvious bluff, he gave himself away.
Xuan said all this in Chinese, with English subtitles added for the audience. Cates did not receive such help, so he was left bewildered.
– What? – he asked several times. I didn’t understand a word.
Xuan did not pay any attention to this and continued to comment on what happened in Chinese.
Danny Tang got it again , but decided not to tempt fate post-flop anymore.
“With fives, I would call,” Xuan folded while upset.
“It seems he didn’t like losing the stand-up,” Robl grinned and also folded the cards.
But Malinovsky thought for a long time, made a call, and won both boards.
This outcome amused everyone except Tang.
Andrew Robl recalled why he has long been known as an extremely lucky player.
The lucky guy from Vegas limped, Tsang on HJ checked who didn't have any cards yet and bet out $10,000, Xuan 3-bet $45,000, Robl made a 4-bet $120,000, leaving about $140,000 in the stack. Xuan called and check-pushed the flop, and Roble quickly called.
– Once or twice?
“I don’t care,” the upset Robl shook his head.
“Then once,” Xuan took responsibility.
Xuan and Tang were still without a card and in the next hand, and they found themselves in heads-up.
Cates raised to $6,000 from the CO with K4o, Tang 3-bet to $22,000, Xuan missed the rebuy and called with a stack of $46,000. On the flop, he quickly called with the rest of his stack.
“You don’t often bet for value with K-high,” Danny noted and jinxed it. A six came on the river.
– What kind of nonsense? – he couldn’t contain his emotions. – I don’t care about this stupid pot, but it infuriates me that it was because of him that I lost $50k for the second time in a row.
In the first hand of the new stand-up round, four players reached the river at once.
Preflop, Cates opened, received three calls, checked the flop, and the turn.
On the river, Tsang bet, Xuan threw away the best hand, and Robl thought about it.
– Are you bluffing, Elton?
Tsang nodded affirmatively.
– Do you swear?
Elton laughed and Robl called.
The episode ended with a beautiful but unsuccessful prank performed by Jungleman.
Xuan opened and received three calls. On the flop, Cates check-raised to $60,000 from $17,000, and Xuan called. On the turn, Jungle bet and folded to the push.
Xuan began to laugh, as if hinting at how cleverly he had bluffed his opponent. Cates pretended to want to look at his cards, but Xuan quickly moved them towards the dealer, who sent them to the muck.
– Why laugh if you never showed your cards? – Dan didn’t understand.
Xuan continued to have fun, but at that moment his neighbors reminded him that without a showdown, the hand does not count towards stand-up. Xuan immediately felt less happy.
The Chinese high rollers condemned Cates' actions.
“We often play with a penalty if someone reminds a forgetful player,” warned Elton Tsang.
– Yes, Jungle, everyone understood what was happening, and your actions could have influenced him, and he would have shown his cards.
“Nobody warned me,” Cates tried to justify himself.
A few hands earlier, Jungleman had told the table that he wanted to play "deeper stacked" and asked for an extra $100,000.
In the last hand of the episode, Dan bluffed Malinowski.
Wiktor limped-called preflop and checked to the river.
Robl finished the session with a profit of $239,000 and was happy with that, the remaining participants finished the game five handed.
Elton Tsang also tried to win the hand with a bluff but chose the wrong moment for this (and not even his opponent).
Elton opened, Tang on SB with A2o, and Xuan called in the BB. Xuan bet the flop and turn, and thought for a long time on the river, but check-called an $80,000 bet into a $107,000 pot.
In the second round of the confrontation between the top regs, Wiktor Malinovsky took convincing revenge from Cates.
Wiktor limped in, Cates raised to $12,000, Xuan was on the button with 42s and Malinowski paid. Everyone quickly checked the flop, and on the turn, Limitless led for $10,000 and called the raise to $47,000. On the river, Wiktor hit one of his outs and bet $15,000 into a $135,000 pot, and Jungle immediately called and said he would have paid a lot more.
Wiktor received the last card, forcing Elton Tsang to pay out bonuses to the entire table.
Xuan decided to start the new round with a light 4-bet.
When put all-in, Xuan gave up.
A few hands later, Cates suggested adding even more gambling to the show and playing with a $20,000 bounty if you in with .
– Why are you offering it so late? – Xuan was upset. – I wouldn't have folded.
The second episode ended with a very strange call from Danny Tang.
Tang in the big blind called Xuan's $24,000 raise on the straddle. Postflop, Danny check-called all streets. Xuan bet $23,000, $59,000 and moved all in on the river.
“It will look so stupid on broadcast,” Tang, the Natural8 pro laughed. “And I don’t have anything, but I don’t want to throw it away.”
After five minutes of deliberation, he called. Xuan received the card, and Tsang lost his second round of stand-up in a row.
At the beginning of the third episode, Wiktor Malinovsky and Dan Cates were the last players left without cards and played a bright hand in the blinds.
Wiktor called, and Jungle checked.
– Wow, won’t you raise? – Limitless was surprised.
On the flop, Cates called a third of the pot bet.
– Aren’t you raising again?
On the turn, Malinowski checked and Dan made a small overbet of $12,000 into the $10,000 pot. On the river, Wiktor led $5,000 into a $34,000 pot and immediately called the raise to $85,000.
Elton Tsang suggested playing a round with a mandatory straddle. Jungleman agreed and immediately received kings.
Xuan folded to a 4-bet and said he had queens.
– Do you think he’s lying? – Cates asked Tang in a whisper.
– Naturally, he had some Q6o, a completely random hand.
Jungleman won the biggest pot of the session without showing it.
He opened with a $12,000 raise, Tang on the button with A9o called, as did Tsang. The flop was checked to Tang, he bet $25,000, and both opponents called. On the turn, Tsang led to $75,000 and was again followed by two calls. On the river, Tsang bet $250,000 into a $340,000 pot, Cates shoved, and Tang folded. Tsang thought for a long time, called himself a fish, and also gave up.
“You saved me,” Tang turned to him. “If you had checked and he bet, I would have shoved.” If you bet and he called, I would shove too. If you bet and he folds, I would shove again. I only fold here to his all-in.
“But I wouldn’t fold to your push,” Elton dumbfounded him.
Cates and Xuan played a small 3-bet pot.
Jungle opened with a $22,000 raise and called a $70,000 3-bet, with all streets check-checking post flop.
Xuan received a card, and Tsang lost another round of stand-up and ended the game. The last hands were played out by the four of them as usual.
At the very end of the show, Xuan bluffed Jungle with the best hand.
Cates raised and called a 3-bet, Xuan c-bet $25,000 on the flop and called a raise to $78,000, and took the pot with a check-raise on the turn.
Session results:
Tan Xuan: +$406,500
Wiktor Malinovsky: +$358,500
Andrew Robl: +$239,000
Daniel Cates: +$118,000
Danny Tang: -$555,000
Elton Tsang: -$567,000