We have already talked about the first cash session from the London stage of the Triton series.
The second game was played with the same blinds ($1,000/$2,000/$2,000) and a slightly changed lineup.
Already in the first hand, there was a hue pot. Doug Polk was paid in full preflop with aces.
Xuan caught a gutshot on the flop, but the turn and river didn't help him.
– This is definitely a dream, right? – Doug threw up his hands in surprise. – First hand and immediately aces. It doesn't happen that way.
“They say that as you get older, it’s harder to play long sessions,” Polk turned to Paul Phua a few minutes later. – Why did we start at 1:30 AM today?
“He loves poker too much,” replied Elton Tsang. – In addition, now I prefer short sessions – only 18 hours, and not 48 as before.
“These short sessions are longer than my record,” Bryn Kenney entered the conversation.
– What is your record? – Polk asked Phua.
– I once played in Macau for 52 hours.
– Did you win?
– Yes, but I wasn’t allowed to leave, I left the chips behind, as if I had gone away for a couple of minutes, but in fact, I just ran away. Then he wrote: “I won’t come back, you can take all my money for yourself, I don’t care.” Haha. The game lasted more than 70 hours, other players went to bed and returned, some two or three times.
This time, Phua decided, on the contrary, to play a record short session; 15 minutes after the start, he was replaced by Danny Tang.
-Who is this new guy? – Xuan asked casually in Chinese.
“Poker coach,” Tsang gave a not-so-obvious description of Polk.
“That is, he plays according to GTO,” Xuan made an unequivocal conclusion.
At this point, Doug didn't understand Santhosh Suvarna's ranges very well and called him on the river with A-high.
Preflop, Bryn Kenney raised to $14,000 from the SB, Santhosh called from the BB, as did Polk from the straddle. On the flop, Doug bet 20% of the pot, and Kenney folded. The turn was checked and Suvarna hit on the river.
– Full house? – Doug was a little surprised. – It’s good, but a three would be enough.
During this hand, there was a small argument in Chinese between Tan Xuan and Paul Phua, who had not gone far from the table.
– Do you want to add chips? – Paul clarified.
– Yes.
– But you already have a huge stack, what’s the point?
“He wants to cover everyone at the table,” explained Elton Tsang.
– I will have more chips, others will follow my example. Who's interested in playing with just 100 blinds?
– Danny, do you want to add some chips too? – asked Richard Yong, who was idly wandering around the room.
– No, why? – Tang, who declared $200k, was surprised.
– Big stacks look good on TV.
– But I can lose everything, haha.
Bryn Kenney impressed his opponents with a 9-high call.
Kenney bet the $4,000 straddle, Suvarna followed with 82s – restraddle, Tsang delivered in the BB. The flop was checked, Elton bet $15,000 on the turn, Suvarna folded, and Kenney called. On the river, Elton bet again.
“I want to see it,” said Bryn and threw the chips into the center.
– 9-high, like a boss? – Polk remembered Will Kassouf.
“It didn’t work out this time,” Kenney laughed.
– You put him on , Xuan guessed.
“It’s a good thing the flush didn't come in, I would have lost $200k more,” Bryn rejoiced.
Mid-Game results:
Elton Tsang won a big pot without a showdown.
Tan Xuan opened with QTo from first position, four people behind him called, and Doug Polk folded with SB 93s to the outrage of the entire table.
“Well, there you go, Doug,” Danny Tang scolded him, but he himself did not defend Q5o on the straddle.
On the flop, Tsang bet $20,000 into an $88,000 pot, Kenney, Suvarna, and Chappe-Gatien with called. On the turn, Suvarna bet $65,000, and Chappe-Gatien folded. On the river, Tsang bet and took the pot.
Bryn Kenney caught trips and put Doug Polk in a difficult position.
Kenney opened and called a 3-bet, Polk bet a quarter of the pot on the flop, and a little less than a third on the turn and river. After the river raise, he thought for a long time, but folded. Bryn showed one card – .
– Did Doug fold the king? – Elton Tsang asked.
“Of course not,” Kenney replied. – Something like or a little better.
“Some pair,” Tang suggested.
“I had ladies,” Polk admitted. – To be honest, I was glad to see the seven of diamonds. But how does it work for me, they constantly give me big pairs.
One hand later, Doug got the queens again and decided to finish the hand preflop.
Before Suvarna, all quickly folded, he asked the size of Doug’s stack, said that he would have called long ago if it was short deck, but then gave up.
A couple of hands later, Santhosh took revenge on Tan Xuan.
Xuan 3-bet $45,000 preflop and c-bet $50,000 on the flop. On the turn, he had to check-fold in response to a push.
– "Damn, he definitely has something. There is no chance that my bluff will work here," he complained to his Chinese neighbors.
Santhosh showed his cards.
“I can’t believe he went all-in with that hand,” Xuan continued to complain.
“You should have pushed it yourself,” noted Elton Tsang.
“He would never fold it.”
“It’s impossible to call with a three,” Elton disagreed.
– He had the nut flush draw.
– Oh, I didn’t notice that.
“Can’t you ask them to speak English, otherwise I’ll have to learn Chinese,” Santhosh turned to Phua, who again approached the table.
“It’s not difficult, very simple language,” Paul replied.
“I can translate,” Danny Tang came to the rescue and briefly recounted the entire dialogue.
“But I still can’t believe that he called a 3-bet with A3,” Tan couldn’t calm down. – On a blank turn I would definitely shove.
On the next hand, Xuan won the largest pot of the session at that time.
He opened with a raise and bet three barrels, Bryn check-called all streets.
“I also saw the nine first,” Kenney nodded with a laugh, “I already thought there was a chance to win.”
Xuan took this seemingly obviously humorous phrase seriously and asked Tsang to explain to Bryn in English that he was turning over the cards in a random order, there was no intent or slow roll in his actions.
Karl Chappe-Gatien got a little bored and asked to bring him the famous Macallan single malt whiskey.
“I wouldn’t refuse either,” Doug Polk decided to join the process.
– Anyone else want one? – Karl clarified.
As a result, they brought five servings of whiskey.
“I haven’t been dry for two days now, I’ll agree to drink only if we keep everything quiet,” warned Elton Tsang.
Tan Xuan got the hang of it and made a big 3-bet with Q3o on the straddle. Three people called him, and already on the flop the pot exceeded $280k.
On the flop, Tan c-bet $100k, Chappe-Gatien called with , Suvarna called with the bottom pair and caught trips. On the turn, Xuan shoved, the French trader quickly folded, and the Indian businessman called just as quickly.
The river was opened once, but two outs did not come.
“Santhosh is just crazy,” Tan commented again in Chinese.
“There was no need to bet,” Elton Tsang did not miss the chance to criticize his friend.
– The board was paired, how could I not bet? – Xuan did not understand his claims.
Mid-Game results:
A bored Karl Chappe-Gatien opened with a 4x raise with 83o.
“You see what happens when I’m forced to drink,” he explained when everyone folded and showed the cards.
“Nobody forced you, you yourself ordered whiskey for the whole table,” Elton Tsang reminded the other players to the laughter.
In the next hand, Karl announced a raise of $25,000 UTG. Bryn Kenney and Tan Xuan called.
On the flop, Chappe-Gatien moved all-in for $280,000 into a $78,000 pot, and Kenney quickly called.
They agreed to run it twice, and the pot was divided.
After that, the game, as commentator and former PokerStars pro Randy Lew correctly noted, got a little out of control.
It all started with Suvarna's $16,000 triple straddle.
“Don’t repeat this at home,” Elton Tsang addressed the audience.
Danny Tang raised to $35,000. Santosh paid and check-called $40,000 on the flop and bet $80,000 on the turn. Tang called and shoved after his opponent checked on the river.
Suvarna thought for a few minutes but still folded.
"Did you have a spade?" – Tan Xuan asked him.
Santosh nodded.
“Then it’s an easy call.”
After this hand, the players decided to play stand-up. Several minutes were spent discussing the size of the bounty; amounts ranging from $5k to $50k were discussed, but they settled on $10k.
Chappe-Gatien took the first card, 3-betting $100k with J8s.
In the second hand, a huge pot was played.
Chappe-Gatien on the button with A5o again opened with a non-standard sizing of $25k. Elton Tsang followed him with a 3-bet of $75,000, Suvarna called on a double straddle, and Karl folded. His raise fold greatly amused Tang.
On the flop, Elton c-bet $50,000, the turn was checked, and on the river, Tsang bet $200k.
Tsang and Tang were then dealt trips with two pair, but they played a surprisingly small pot for such strong hands.
Tsang opened with a raise of $16,000, and Tang and Xuan called with A8o on straddles. On the flop, Tang check-called a continuation bet, the turn was checked, and on the river, Danny bet $38,000 into an $85,000 pot and was quickly called.
Karl Chappe-Gatien announced a double straddle that he would play the hand blind.
Doug raised to $25,000 from the SB, Tan Xuan called in the straddle and Karl called. On the flop, Chappe-Gatien bet $45,000 into a $79,000 pot, Polk raised to $115,000, Tan folded, and Karl decided it was time to find out what he had, and sent his hand to the muck.
Santhosh Suvarna doubled up preflop.
Elton called the straddle on UTG+1, Suvarna raised to $20,000, Tan Xuan from the BB with K4s and Chappe-Gatien on the straddle with K9o called, Elton raised to $150,000 and called the all-in. The board was run once.
The first round of stand-up was lost by Tan Xuan.
In the second round, he decided to get a card in the first hand, but something went wrong.
In a hand with two straddles, Tan on the SB opened with a $40k raise, and Elton called on the first straddle. The flop was checked and Xuan bet-folded on the turn.
Chappe-Gatien, right in the midst of his stand-up, abandoned his stack and went to smoke, this surprised even Tsang and Xuan, who had seen a lot in Macau.
“This is what we should strive for in life,” Polk noted philosophically. – You risk paying a $60k fine, but you don’t care so much that you just go for a smoke break.
As a result, Karl missed three hands, in one of them he had .
In the last hand without the Frenchman, Bryn Kenney took three streets from Danny Tang.
Tan Xuan made another attempt to get the card and again failed.
Kenney called a double straddle on the button, Tang called on the first, and Xuan announced a big raise on the second. Kenney assessed the situation with the cards and pushed.
– Well, why did you raise? – Tang asked in Chinese. – I could have seen the flop for free, but I created problems for myself.
Chappe-Gatien finally got his card, and at the same time won one of the biggest pots of the evening.
Suvarna opened with a $12,000 raise, followed by two players calling, and Elton squeezing for $72,000. Karl called and check-shoved the flop.
Tsang called but lost both runouts.
“That’s what I understand, a well-deserved card,” Polk admired.
Tan Xuan also lost the second round of stand-up.
The players agreed to play one more round and end the session.
In the second hand, a pot of more than $1 million was played.
Tan on the CO opened with a $25,000 raise, Karl on the button and Polk on the second straddle called. Xuan bet $50,000 on the flop and called a raise to $150,000. On the turn, he check-pushed for $200,000. Chappe-Gatien called and rushed to console his opponent when the river came.
It turned out, however, that this evening it was not yet a record.
Elton raised to $15,000 and Suvarna and Polk called on the straddle. On the flop, Tsang c-bet $25,000, Santhosh called, Doug check-raised to $90,000, and both opponents called. On the turn, Suvarna bet $275,000 into a $318,000 pot, Polk folded QTo, Elton shoved, and held on both rivers.
-Did you throw away the best hand? – Danny Tang asked Polk.
Doug shook his head, but the showdown clearly made an impression on him.
Then the spectators witnessed a triple all-in.
Doug was persuaded to bet a $16,000 triple straddle, Xuan simply shoved after him, Suvarna quickly called, Polk thought for a long time and also called.
In this hand, Xuan hit the nuts on the turn and improved his fortunes a little.
Suvarna and Danny Tang were left alone without cards. Santosh rebought $400k and immediately 3-bet $100k, clearly not planning to fold.
Tang shoved, got called quickly, and won both boards.
Results of the madness:
