The biggest pot yet from Season 8 of High Stakes Poker offered a little bit of everything in the way of insane poker hands.
The centerpiece hand from Wednesday’s Episode 5 featured a three-way preflop all-in, three boards, and Jean-Robert Bellande unable to find any kind of good fortune. In classic High Stakes Poker fashion, the hand ended with Tom Dwan scooping a nearly $1 million pot.
Both Dwan and Bellande lived up to their legends on the new episode, which dropped on PokerGO Wednesday. Dwan seemingly never lost on the original seven-season run of the show from 2006-2011, while Bellande’s reputation as one of poker’s unluckiest players showed up yet again.
High Stakes Poker newcomer Lynne Ji, along with Bellande, both exited the game after losing their stacks to Dwan.
Three players, three boards, one winner
The hand begins with Bellande straddling for $1,600 with A♣K♣ in the $400/$800 No-Limit Hold’em cash game. Rick Salomon raises to $4,000 with 5♣3♣, and Brandon Steven calls with A♦️J♦️.
Dwan, holding Q♠Q♣ , flat calls, and Ji also calls holding Q❤️T❤️. That puts the action back on Bellande, who decides to “sweeten up the pot a little bit” and three-bet to $11,000.
Salomon, true to his loose-aggressive form, calls with the five-three suited. Steven calls, and Dwan four-bets to $54,000.
Ji then five-bet shoves, putting her entire $163,000 stack in with the queen-ten suited. Bellande instantly goes all-in over the top for his $399,000.
Salomon and Steven both fold, putting the preflop-closing betting action back on Dwan. After a few moments in the tank, Dwan commits his remaining $345,000 with the pocket queens.
Players agree to run it thrice
The three-way preflop all-in puts $985,000 in the middle. The players agree to run three boards, with Bellande and Dwan holding roughly equal equity and Li way behind.
Li’s best chance to take at least a third of the pot comes on the first board. The flop and turn come J♣9♠9❤️4❤️, giving Li flush and straight outs going to the river.
Fifth street hits T♠, however, sending board No. 1 to Dwan.
Dwan’s hot streak continues on the second board. The flop comes Q♦️J❤️3♠, bringing in top set for the high-stakes legend.
The turn 7♠ and river A❤️ change nothing, as Dwan clinches at least two-thirds of the massive pot. Board No. 3 also starts out great for Dwan, with 5♦️5♠5❤️ coming out on the flop.
The turn 7❤️ leaves Ji drawing dead, and Bellande looking for an ace, king, or five to pull out a win on the final board. That doesn’t happen, however, as the 7♦️ hits the board and sends the $985k pot to Dwan.
Ji and Bellande, both felted in the hand, decide to call it a night, setting the stage for high-roller tournament specialist Jason Koon to take a seat at the table. The episode ends just a few hands later.
Previews of next Wednesday’s episode show what appears to be a different day and a redraw. At least three new faces are slated to appear on next week’s episode, as High Stakes Poker continues as must-see poker television in its second run.
Featured image source: PokerGO
