Things have been settling back into normal in the two weeks following the WSOP festivities, with Hustler Casino Live shows back on regular scheduling, and all the grinders getting back to their weekly gambling habits.
This week gave us a few exciting HCL shows, with all the regulars in action, and plenty of high-stakes action going on across Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday shows.
The KPC players were back in action as well, including Tom Dwan, but this week’s episodes gave us significantly less action than we saw recently.
For all of you who were too busy to watch this week’s cash game streams in real time, here is a look at a few key hands that went down and involved some of your personal poker heroes.
Jack Lee Puts Airball All-In
The Wednesday game on Hustler Casino Live typically isn’t a high-stakes festival, but this week was different, as the likes of Rampage, Nik Airball, Britney, and Jack Lee kicked things into fifth gear and played some massive pot.
Jack Lee in particular was driving the action, as he sat with a massive stack and took on all the HCL regulars with no fear or hesitation.
Earlier in the game, Lee got it all-in with both Rampage and Britney, and as the game approached its final minutes, it was time to put Nik Airball to the test as well.
The hand started with both players holding exceptionally deep stacks and Airball opening the action with a $500 raise, holding Q♠10♥. Jack Lee looked down at 7♥7♦ and wanted to play for more, so he bumped it up to $2k, which got a flat call from Big Mike.
Not one to play too many pots in a passive way, Nik quickly re-raised to $15k, looking to seize the initiative and get heads up with his opponent.
Jack Lee made the call, and the two went heads up to the flop of A♠10♦7♠, which put Lee miles ahead, but gave Airball just enough rope to keep him in.
He c-bet small for $8k, and Jack recognized the opportunity to seek value right away by putting in a raise to $25k. With middle pair and backdoors working for him, Nik couldn’t get away just yet, so he made the call.
With $82k now in the pot, the turn was an interesting 3♠, a card that gave Nik some actual equity in the hand. He checked, Jack Lee bet $25k once more, and Nik sprung into action.
A re-raise to $72k from Nik Airball meant one of two things: He either had a flush or a set of Aces, or he was bluffing with a single spade.
Despite the fact Airball could have some real hands, Jack Lee decided to put him to the test right here, right now! He moved all-in for a total of $309k, which meant Nik would have to call al most $230k more to see the river card.
This move sent Airball into the tank, and it took long enough that the remaining players left the table, leaving him to make his decision. After a few minutes in the tank, he eventually found the correct fold, but was left kicking himself for not just calling the turn bet.
While the “King of LA” got away from the hand, this pot was one of the most interesting ones on Wednesday night, and Nik’s long tank with just middle pair showcased just how suspicious these players get of each other when the chips go in.
Everyone’s All-In on Tilted Thursday
Tilted Thursdays are time for action and good times on HCL, and this week was no exception. A fun group or players came together in LA, and they were all happy to gamble it up. Despite the stakes of just $25/$50, the Ante Game got pretty wild pretty fast.
A round of limping, pretty standard in the Ante Game, led to 3Coin raising it to $300 with A♣5♥, and Mariano putting in the isolation re-raise to $2.1k with 7♠3♠, a play I would not recommend you try at home.
When action got to Britney, however, she decided her 5♣5♦ was good enough to move all-in for $9.6k. Incidentally, she was right, as she had both her opponents in a very bad shape.
Unfortunately for her, Rampage, who was next to act, was holding J♠J♥ in the hole and waiting for this exact scenario. He moved all-in for $19.6k, and the hand should have gotten down to heads up.
Yet, 3Coin is anything but scared to gamble, so he decided to just go for it with his offsuit Ace, calling off his remaining $13k.
It was now down to Mike X, who had A♠10♠, a hand that doesn’t really do too well multi-way, but did have 18% equity in this particular spot.
With just $200 in the pot, Mike could have easily gotten away, but the opportunity to quadruple-up seemed too juicy, so he put his remaining $11.5k into the pot as well.
Mariano was the only one who made the prudent fold, while four other players were all-in, creating a pot of $50,600, more than 1,000 initial big blinds.
3Coin insisted they only run the board once, and the flop could not have been better for Rampage, who had 60% equity when the cards were on their backs.
The dealer revealed J♦8♥2♠, giving Rampage top set and leaving most of his opponents drawing semi-dead.
The 3c on the turn meant that both Britney and Mike X were dead, while 3Coin could now win if a Four rolled off on the river, giving him a 13% chance to win the hand.
Instead, the river was the K♥, and Rampage would scoop a pot that never should have been, becoming the benefactor of his opponents’ willingness to gamble with pretty much any cards.
The rest of the game played out in a similar fashion, and Rampage was able to walk away with a $31.7k win, while 3Coin lost $41k, making him the biggest loser of the day.
Ryan Feldman Gets Out of Line
As is usually the case, things culminated in the Friday game, as the stakes went up and the pots got big very fast. The likes of Steve, Nik Airball, Big Mike, and Jeff the Cash were in the mix, and you knew there would be blood in the water before the cards were even in the air.
Some four hours into the stream, the action was already off the rails, and Ryan Feldman was feeling particularly gamblish, as one could tell from his body language.
A bunch of $200 limps prompted Feldman to raise to $4k with A♠8♥, a hand that doesn’t really do too well in such scenarios, and he was immediately punished, as Tilted Prince made it $16k to go.
As it turns out, Tilted Prince had limped in with A♣A♦ in early position and was in the driver’s seat. Thankfully for Ryan, he didn’t have much hand and could easily get away from it, but that’s not what he decided to do.
Instead, after some thinking, Ryan re-raised once again, this time making it $29k to go, representing that he had a big pocket pair himself. Prince made the call, and the two went to the flop.
The flop was 7♦5♦4♥, which gave Feldman a gutshot, so he kept blasting off for $11k. Appropriately recognizing he could get more value right away, Tilted Prince raise the flop to $26k, forcing Ryan to make the call with just 13% equity.
The 2♠ on the turn gave Feldman some chop outs. He checked it over to his opponent, and Tilted Prince perhaps made a slight mistake this time, as he failed to bet any money, probably assuming he could get the rest of it on the river if Feldman did have a pocket pair.
Instead, the river card was the 3♣, good enough to bail Ryan out and give him the chop. Instead of pulling the trigger now, Feldman checked his option, and then looked fairly disgusted when Tilted Prince moved all-in.
Ryan eventually made the call, and seemed relieved to see his opponent’s cards, but simultaneously saying he didn’t think anyone had a real hand in this particular showdown.
When all was said and done Ryan managed to run up a $84k win, while Big Mike was the big loser, down about $230k. Despite the massive stakes, the remaining stacks remained somewhat stable, as no other players posted a six-figure win or loss on the night.
