Some viewers admired the constant fun and crazy hands that reigned at the table, while others called the broadcast completely unwatchable due to the excessively noisy and not always proper behavior of the participants. Here, first of all, Nik Airball excelled.
Doug Polk, even before the start of the show, did not miss the opportunity to troll Matt Berkey:
– It's pretty incredible we found a lineup where I like Berkey more than three other players.
“Lol, I just realized that this tweet reads wrong,” Doug corrected himself after a couple of minutes. – I meant that 3 people at the table hate Berkey more than me.
This is probably about Airball (everything is obvious here), Persson (he constantly comes at Berkey on social media and has also already challenged him to a heads-up duel), and Lynne Ji (she is rumored to have a romantic relationship with Matt in the past and painful breakup for her).
Judging by the intro from yesterday's episode of his podcast, Matt Berkey doesn't think highly of his neighbors either.
Starting stacks:
Blinds are $200/$400.
A little later, Rob Yong and Jean-Robert Bellande joined the game.
– Berkey is considered an elite player, why did he buy in for the minimum when there are so many amateurs at the table? Allen Kessler was surprised.
– Lol, actually it's 250bb, – Matt answered after the broadcast. What do you even know about deep stack strategy, Allen?
But Airball decided that he should cover all rivals by quite a margin. 10 minutes after the start, he added another $500,000 to his stack.
The first big pot was played by Polk and Tilly.
Jennifer opened early, Doug CO called, Airball in the SB with AJo raised to $7,000, call, call.
Tilly bet the flop and the turn and checked the river. Doug bet $46,000 into the pot of $86,000.
– Do you have a flush, Doug?
– I heard that you should not say your hand during the action.
“There must be an article on Upswing about it,” Nik laughed.
– What do you have? Polk asked.
– A very good hand.
– How much?
I think it's better than yours. But if you have a flush, I'm in trouble.
– "Is it a set?" Doug was surprised.
– No. Do you have a set? Okay, I call.
“If I had more chips, I should have silently shoved on the river.” After the hand, Jennifer easily found the right solution.
Matt Berkey with Aces was left heads-up against Airball. It seemed, what else can you dream of? But something didn't go according to plan.
Everything was thrown before Berkey, he limped, Nik checked. Matt check-raised the flop, overbet the turn, and bet half the pot on the river. Airball declared all-in. Matt thought for a long time but called.
– "Life is beautiful!" Nick exclaimed. – "Give me your chips."
Berkey defiantly did not react to his opponent. Then Airball just grabbed his chips and said, "They're mine now, motherfucker."
“Well, actually, according to the rules, when you lose a stack, you have to give chips to your opponent,” Polk reminded.
“When Berkey was put between Doug and Nick, he ended up in the hell of a lifetime,” the audience sympathized with the poor fellow. “Looks like we are all with him."
Thanks to the generosity of Jennifer Tilly, Matt was able to quickly recover the losses.
Jennifer opened from the middle, Berkey called on the SB and check-raised on the flop. Tilly responded with a 3-bet to $15,000. Matt paid and check-raised all-in on the turn.
“I would have been all-in on the flop,” Jennifer said, “and now I'm not so happy. Seems like my ace is no good."
She still called and agreed to run the river twice, but Matt took the whole pot.
Doug Polk folded a set on the river against Lynne Ji.
Doug bet an $800 straddle and called the $2,000 raise. He check-raised on the flop and bet on the turn. Lynn called and on the river, she moved all-in for $130,000 into a $65,000 pot.
“What a strange hand,” Doug thought.
– It's not so simple when you don't see your opponent's cards? – Eric Persson tried to troll Polk for his YouTube hand analysis.
“Yes, I seem to be doing well when I see only my cards,” Doug retorted and threw it away.
JRB and Airball went all in for over 1,000 blinds preflop.
Bellande 3-bet and shoved over another reraise.
“I was 100% sure that he had aces, but I can’t throw it away here,” Nick explained his actions in a not very logical way.
The board ran twice and was split.
Jennifer Tilly and Matt Berkey were involved in a cooler reminiscent of the final draw of "Casino Royale" featuring James Bond.
Before the river, a modest $35,000 was invested in the pot. Lynne Ji opened for $1,000 and Tilly and Berkey called. On the flop Jennifer bet $2,000, Berkey check-raised to $6,000 and called the $17,000 reraise. The turn was checked. On the river, Matt bet $30,000 and called all-in.
Why did you check the turn? Matt chuckled at the showdown.
– I was a little afraid of the straight.
Eric Persson spent the first half of the session in an uncharacteristically calm manner. But it couldn't go on for long.
Airball bet a $1,600 double straddle, Persson immediately raised to $5,600, Bellande in the SB with made the call, as did Doug Polk in the BB. The flop was checked, on the turn JRB bet $12,000 into a $20,000 pot, Polk folded, Persson raised to $42,000, and Bellande quickly called. The river played check-check.
“A pair is good,” Persson announced sadly.
– What's happening? Polk jumped up as the players revealed their cards. I also had fours.
“And yours were better,” Bellande hinted at the clubs.
Rob Yong and Doug Polk played the biggest pot of the session.
Preflop, Doug 3bet $13,000, Airball called with 99, and Yong called. On the flop, Doug c-bet, and only Yong called. The turn was check-checked. On the river, Doug bet $50,000 into an $87,000 pot and Yong raised to $200,000. Polk thought for a long time, but this time he could not throw it away.
But Jennifer Tilly has demonstrated that she is capable of impressive folds.
Airball bet an $800 straddle, Tilly raised to $3,000, and Doug called on the SB. The flop was check-raised by Doug from $5,000 to $17,000, Jennifer 3-bet to $45,000, and Doug shoved.
– Can you have a flush draw? Tilly asked. – I can say that I don’t beat two pairs and sets.
This confession greatly amused Erik Persson.
“Basically, I only beat a bluff,” Jennifer ignored him. “I was sure you would fold to my raise.” Without cameras, I would have thrown it away a long time ago, but I don’t want to be laughed at. It also bothers me that you're on tilt after the last hand, so I might be better. But would you bluff me? I'm subscribed to your channel. Do you really want to lose a client like that?
Doug again didn't answer, and Jennifer still threw it away.
Erik Persson also waited for the cooler in his favor.
Bellande straddled to $800, Doug raised to $2,000 in the CO, and Persson defended the big blind. Eric check-called the flop and turn, and check-raised from $20,000 to $120,000 on the river. Doug thought for a few minutes, but he couldn't throw it away.
At the end of the session, Airball got pretty drunk, and Berkey had a really hard time. Once in the BB or straddle, Nik began to convince his neighbor how much money it was, and that Matt simply had to throw it away. Nobody liked this joke, but Airball was not embarrassed, and he repeated it every orbit. Then he remembered their heads-up battle and began to aggressively suggest to Berkey that they raise the stakes to $500/$1,000.
“Look, I love Berkey so much that I’m ready to give him money, but he refuses,” Nick called out to the tablemates. – What is wrong with him?
“We’ll finish this challenge,” Matt answered calmly, “and we can start a new one. In general, I am ready to play with you at any time without any additional conditions."
Jean Robert Bellandet tried his luck again preflop.
After a straddle and a restraddle, Airball raised to $25,000 and JRB just shoved.
Nik suggested that JRB decide for himself how many times to run the board. Bellande said one was enough and flopped a set.
"But I got you pretty good, didn't I?" – Airball asked after the hand.
“Yes, it was very cool,” Jean-Robert readily agreed, collecting chips.
In the last pot of the evening, Jennifer Tilly bet a $3,200 straddle with jacks and hit a set. Airball didn't catch anything, but it didn't bother him.
The hand lasted more than 10 minutes. On the flop Nik bet $400 into a $13,700 pot, Tilly raised to $7,000. Airball called and check-raised from $15,000 to $50,000 on the turn. Jennifer moved all in.
“I have a flush,” Nick said and turned over 2s. – Good?
“Maybe he really thinks he has a flush?” commentators suggested.
“This is the final hand,” said Doug Polk. – Isn't it strange that we once admired the game of Negreanu and Gus, and now High Stakes Poker is Airball drunk as a bastard?
“Actually, I’m sober as glass,” Nick flared up and continued to portray painful thoughts.
– What the **** is going on? Nick Shulman began to lose patience. Why is he doing this?
“Come on, Airball, make a decision already,” the players pleaded.
– This is the last hand, you can just leave. Jennifer, to be honest, if you have a flush, then I've lost. But against kings or something like that, I have a chance.
“All right,” said Polk, tired of waiting. “Jennifer probably has things to do, so I’ll ask for the clock for her sake."
“Go ahead,” Nik said.
“Jennifer, I confess that my second card is red,” Nick said as the floor approached. – I fold.
Tilly showed her set, the other players unanimously asked to turn the river.
"Let it be a spade," Polk expressed his general hope. But the ace of clubs came.
“It seems that after today’s stream, Doug will move to the Berkey camp,” they suggested in the broadcast chat.
Final player stacks:
Over 10,000 people watched the stream live. A lot of viewers left rave reviews and wrote that they had a lot of fun.
The players seemed to enjoy it too.
“Tonight's show was incredible,” Doug wrote when the broadcast ended.
Matt Berkey, with his dignified behavior, has clearly added fans for himself.
“I think after today’s show no one doubts that Berkey is a real gentleman 👏,” wrote Henry Kilbane after the stream.
But on social media, the reaction to the stream turned out to be not so unambiguous.
“Turned on High Stakes Poker and lasted 48 seconds,” said Len Ashby. Too many fake laughs. I like watching Gus and Sigmund more.
“I turned it off after 30 seconds,” agreed David Williams.
“I won’t even give a link to this shame,” wrote Justin Bonomo. “But I’m glad that almost everyone in my feed was disgusted by this bullying and a pathetic parody of cheap reality show drama."
Daniel Negreanu, who almost always supports PokerGo's endeavors, could not restrain himself here either:
--Let me just say that I am so glad I decided to stay home today and watch hockey instead of that “other thing” They need to make cackle cancelling mics for the sake of the viewers for live poker streams Is that a thing? Do we have the tech to mute the cackles???
– How would you play in such a line-up? asked in the comments.
– Terrible. There is not the slightest chance that I would have lasted the entire session and would not have fallen into a tilt trap.
Chris Hook took pity on Nick Shulman:
– Forcing Nick to comment on such a lineup is complete disrespect.
“It's all right, Chris," Shulman replied. Don't forget to subscribe and like, haha.
Matt Berkey was also not happy with the show:
IDK what tonight's viewing experience was like, but from my pov it was not as advertised... I left feeling extremely underwhelmed both in game play & authenticity. Rob Yong deserves an award for salvaging an otherwise all bark, no bite cast of characters.
The last phrase is a clear reference, first of all, to Doug Polk, with whom Rob had casual conversations with friendly jokes throughout the session.