The latest episode of High Stakes Poker on PokerGO was another thrill-a-minute cash game, with some of the best players in the world hanging on for the ups and downs of No Limit Hold’em at its best. Last week, there weren’t quite as many big pots as this week as players dipped their toes in the water.
With legendary poker player Jean-Robert Bellande joining the action, there was another great move from Daniel ‘Kid Poker’ Negreanu, and professional slot machine player Kim Hultman also had a wild ride as the stacks were deep and the bluffs huge.
Hultman Off to a Flyer
“The ‘Greatest of All Time’ for me is Phil Ivey.”
One of the players who was still in his seat from last week’s show was Jan Hultman, self-proclaimed king of the slot machines as the professional one-armed bandit ruler was right into the action right away. Sitting down in the mix of so many greats was a thrill for Hultman, who explained who he felt was the greatest poker player of all time in a ‘vox-pop’ special during the show.
“The Greatest of all Time for me is Phil Ivey,” he said. “But it’s [also] scary playing against Tom Dwan. Doyle Brunson is a living legend but if I can only pick one, it’s Ivey.”
One great pot involving the man Hultman believes to be the greatest saw, Tom Dwan, drawing to a straight flush from the flop. Heads-up with his former Full Tilt Poker Team Pro, Ivey hit two pair on the turn and made a full house on the river to scoop a big one with aces full of nines. Ivey said after the hand in a short interview about playing poker: “I knew I loved playing poker when I first played at eight years old with my grandfather. I loved everything about it from the beginning.”
Gabe Kaplan couldn’t resist re-telling a Woody Allen joke when he quipped: “My grandfather, on his deathbed, he had this watch, you know. He sold it to me.”
Bellande Replaces Bord at the Felt
Jean-Robert Bellande replaced an in-profit James Bord at the PokerGO felt and no sooner had he done so did he defend his big blind. Holding jack-eight, he flopped a gutshot when Dwan hit top pair with his ace-queen and Bellande’s draw came in on the nine turn. On the river of another queen, Bellande bet big, but somehow Dwan found the fold button to lose a massive pot but preserve his stack.
Hultman cashed out, Jonathan Gibbs showed up and it was established that the poker player who fell in love with the game at Harrah’s on the strip has nine children. Getting into a raised pot with Tom Dwan, Gibbs had ace-king off-suit with the ace of diamonds, and c-bet a flop with two diamonds on it but no Big Slick cards. A seven of spades on the turn saw both men check, with Dwan adding a straight draw to his outs, but a king on the river gave Gibbs the best hand after 5th street.
A bet of $16,000 into $28,000 from Dwan saw Gibbs make the call and rack up an early improvement to his stack. Gibbs, who was then shown jumping off a helicopter to bungee jump into a volcano wearing a suit, Kaplan and Benza had to ask how he’s supposed to be terrified of any bet at a poker table.
Ivey Closes the Show with a Win
“I thought you might have diamonds.”
Until the latter stages of this episode, Phil Ivey had looked a little timid at the table, but one big pot to close out the show brought more of the familiar death-stares we’ve come to expect from the poker legend. In a three-way pot between Ivey, Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu, the latter led out on a flop featuring two fives.
Brunson gave Kid Poker some respect, folding the nut flush draw, but Ivey – holding a lower flush draw – held on for turn and river, with the flush coming in on fifth street. Negreanu only had a pair of sixes, good enough only for two pair. Ivey’s flush won a valuable pot.
“I had the ace and another diamonds.” Said Doyle Brunson.
“I thought you might have diamonds.” Replied Negreanu to the man they call ‘Texas Dolly.
“I called 2500 and he shot it back,” explained Brunson to Dwan. “I thought he had a five.”
“I did too, then I looked back, and it was a six.” Joked Negreanu, to laughter all round from the table full of poker legends. With both Negreanu and Ivey having over $200,000 at the felt when the curtain came down on the second episode of the ninth season of High Stakes Poker, there is a lot more to come in the forthcoming weeks.
