Venetian Poker Live continues its string of exciting Wednesday night games this week with an epic lineup that included the recent WSOP Main Event champion Michael Mizrachi and the game’s newest villain Martin Kabrhel.
The pair joined some of the game’s regulars, including hosts Brian Okin and Jean-Robert Bellande, Eric Wasserson, and a few other high-stakes gamblers.
As usual, the group played $100/$200 No Limit Hold’em, but those stakes were quickly kicked up with a series of straddles, squid games, and wild raises that led to some massive pots.
The Venetian Poker Live regulars got gambling early, while Kabrhel and Mizrachi took a hot minute to get adjusted to the madness.
Yet, it would eventually be these two who would play the biggest pot of the night, both holding marginal hands to say the least.
When the dust settled, it was Eric Wasserson and the Grinder who won close to $100k each, while Royski and Kabrhel went down as the game’s big losers, as the night ended with wild action you wouldn’t expect to see in a professional poker game.
WSOP Champions Become Friends
Michael Mizrachi and Martin Kabrhel have been two of the most talked about poker players over the last few weeks, as both had memorable performances as the recently finished World Series of Poker.
Mizrachi famously won the Main Event and the PPC before getting inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, while Kabrhel won the Mini Main Event and had a very profitable summer of his own.
Recent hype earned them both a seat in Okin’s and JRB’s game, which may just be the softest high-stakes poker game going in Las Vegas right now.
While they were clearly not friends leading into yesterday, Mizrachi and Kabrhel got assigned adjacent seats and developed a friendly relationship throughout the game.
The Main Event and the Mini Main Event champions got involved in some fun banter, with the likes of Royski and Isaac also getting involved with the jokes.
The banter helped make the stream very fun for the viewers, and likely also led to bigger action, as everyone at the table seemed to be relaxed and in a gambling mood.
One area in which Mizrachi and Kabrhel differed quite a bit was the amount of action they gave, as Martin made some very loose bets and calls, while Grinder took a more conservative approach.
It was this exact dynamic that led to the biggest pot of the night, which involved both of the game’s newest faces.
The Grinder Gets Kabrhel to Make a Loose Call
The biggest pot of the night came some four and a half hours into the game, when Kabrhel made an unusually big raise to over $10k over the $200 big blind. The Grinder looked down at AsJs, and realizing Martin was probably on tilt after recent losses, moved all-in for close to $65k effective.
Martin didn’t take too long before making the call, but the card readers didn’t reveal either player’s hand during preflop action.
Once the money was in, we could see Mizrachi’s cards, while Martin’s hand remained hidden as the dealer dealt out a board that read 6cTcAd9d6s.
Martin finally put his cards on the card reader to reveal he had KdQd, before mucking his hand and relinquishing the $128k pot to the Grinder.
With that pot, the Grinder became one of the big winners of the game, while Martin went into a bit of a frenzy, moving all-in on a number of hands before the night ended.
Mizrachi Folds the Winner on the Final Hand
After losing the big pot to Mizrachi, Kabrhel went into a frenzy, moving all-in on multiple occasions and reloading his stack as needed.
A few hands before the end of the session, Martin open-raised to $24.9k off of his fresh $25k stack, which had not even arrived yet. He used chips from Grinder’s stack to cover the bet, leaving himself with a $100 chip behind.
To our surprise, he got action from Wass, who held Ad6c in the $400 straddle, and decided to put the money in. Kabrhel revealed he had two black Jacks, good for the $50k pot.
The very next hand, Martin won another significant pot from Wass, after his KdQs improved to top pair on the flop, to beat Wass’ pocket Tens.
As final hand was announced, Mizrachi looked at two black Nines in early position, and raised it up to $1,400. The raise was called by Royski, Wass, and Alex, before Kabrhel announced he was all-in for $70,400.
Mizrachi had a big decision to make. He knew Martin was on full tilt and likely making a move, but he also had over $90k in profit on the last hand of the night.
The Grinder took the route of caution and folded his pocket Nines, while the card reader revealed that Kabrhel had pocket Sevens.
To make matters worse, the players decided to run the board, which revealed the Grinder would have made a full house, as the final nine in the deck hit the board.
The Rich Get Richer
The game ended with Eric Wasserson leaving as the big winner, with $109,700 in profit. Right behind him was Michael Mizrachi, who added another $94,600 to the $10,000,000 he won in the WSOP Main Event just the other day.
Alex took home just over $16k in profit, while Okin and Isaac lost low five figures. Martin Kabrhel ended up winning back some of his losses, and eventually losing $72,400, while Royski dropped $125,700 over the five hours of play.
High stakes games continue on Venetian Poker Live next Wednesday, when another exciting lineup comes together to play the wildest poker game in Las Vegas.
