Hustler Casino Live, the world’s biggest live poker stream, kicked off 2025 with three consecutive nights of high-stakes action, featuring 15 hours of live action at $100/100 and $100/200.
Over those 15 hours, we saw some very notable and recognizable HCL regulars such as Peter, Wesley, Britney, and Mariano win and lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. Joining them was also Ryan Feldman, the show’s owner and executive producer.
While these three sessions were nowhere near as wild as the one played by Antonio Esfandiari to close out 2024, we still saw quite a bit of blood, wild hands, and massive pots.
If you didn’t quite have the time to watch all the streams and are looking for some highlights, keep on reading and find out what happened in the first streamed high-stakes poker games in 2025.
Mike X Dominates the Thursday Stream
The folks at HCL allowed their players and viewers to take a day off on January 1, but the action was back on the very next day.
It wasn’t just any game either, as the Thursday stream saw Mariano, Wesley, Peter, Mike X, and Britney all make their way to the iconic LA casino.
The stakes at play were $100/100, but as it usually happens with this group of players, the stacks quickly got a lot bigger than you would see in a typical $100/100 game.
With plenty of straddles on and several action players in the mix, it didn’t take too long before 5-figure pots became the norm.
The big winner of the day was Mike X, who built up a $73k win without actually playing too many huge pot.
His first big bump came from Wesley, who decided to commit over $30k in total with just a pair of fours against Mike’s flopped flush draw and turned pair of Tens, which was enough to scoop him the pot.
Yet, Mike’s session was not turned into a big win until be decided to 4-bet bluff Mariano with his K♦10♦ near the end of the stream for some $45k.
It was bad news for Mike, as Mariano held pocket Queens, but the players ran the entire board twice, and Mike managed to win both boards and scoop the $90k pot to put a conclusion on the first day of action.
It was Peter who ended up the big loser for the day, as he dropped $168k playing his recognizable loose and aggressive style of poker.
Peter Bounces Back as Ryan and Britney Sink
The very next day, Hustler Casino Live action was back on, with a chunk of Thursday’s group coming back for more, including Peter and Britney.
Peter was in the mix looking to bounce back from a substantial loss a day earlier, but it was Ryan Feldman who would draw first blood when he outflopped David on a board that gave them both two pair.
It didn’t take too long for David to get his revenge for this hand, as he bluffed out Ryan after he attempted a 4-bet bluff with J♦5♠ and actually made the best hand on the turn.
It kept going downhill for Feldman when David called off his preflop shove with just K♣10♥ and made a straight on the river to beat Ryan’s flopped set of eights.
Things continued going in the wrong direction for Feldman, who simply could not get anything going and eventually lost $277k on the session in a series of beats, some of which could have perhaps been avoided.
Joining him on the wrong end of the spectrum was Britney, who never got much going and lost several big pots throughout the night.
One of the bigger losses for her came in a hand that saw her and Peter get to the turn without a pair, only for both to hit top pair when the Q♦ hit the felt.
Unfortunately for Britney, Peter’s King kicker was enough to beat her Jack, and Peter scooped a pot worth $85k.
Despite losing a few substantial pots along the way, Peter ended up winning $195k in total, while David ended the day as the big winner, taking in $229k in profits on the day.
Peter Ends the Week on a High Note
The final of the three weekend streams played to kick-off 2025 once again saw Peter, Britney, and Ryan battle a mixed cast that included Wesley, Tomer, and Dr.P.
Peter’s run from a day earlier continued on Saturday, as he made a series of well-timed plays to dominate the field.
The first such play came in a hand against Wesley that started with Peter calling a preflop 4-bet with 8♣6♠. Peter flopped a pair on the board of 8♦5♠2♥ and called off his entire $45k stack on the Q♥ turn.
Thankfully for Peter, Wesley was indeed bluffing, and when the river bricked out, Peter won the first 6-figure pot of the night.
Despite losing a $50k pot near the end of the session, Peter was still able to scoop a $127k win, while Jake suffered the biggest loss of the day, stuck $92k.
Britney, who had lost quite big on Friday was able to redeem herself on the Saturday stream, taking home $96k in profits.
While she still lost about $20k over the three days of action, this result won’t be too disappointing for Britney, who has become one of the staples of the show and few regulars who play in nearly every high-stakes stream HCL throws.
