In any given Hustler Casino Live game, there exists the distinct possibility for a hand to play out like no other before it. While, technically, that's true of any poker game anywhere on the planet, it seems as though the livestream felt in Los Angeles produces more than its fair share of off-the-rails, outside-the-box poker hands.
Mariano Grandoli is no stranger to pots of this nature. And, during the show's most recent $25/$50 Ante Game, he found himself involved in another mind-melting scenario – check out the video below.
'Was there any doubt?'
In order to fully understand Grandoli's decision-making in this pot, a key point must be raised. When the hand in question came around, the players at the table were taking part in a round of the bounty game – a side game that rewards players for winning multiple hands in a row. If you win three hands in a row, the others pay up. If you win four pots in a row, you get paid even more – and so on and so on.
Grandoli had already secured himself two buttons. If he were to win the next hand, an additional $1,000 from each player would come his way. If you check the replies on the post above, you'll see that HCL producer and co-owner Ryan Feldman was quick to point out this added incentive.
With this in mind, the hand kicked off with a series of limps as the table aimed to play defense against Grandoli's bounty pursuit. Ethan 'Rampage' Yau started the party by calling $50 with 
. Then Dr. P followed suit with 
and Rich Asian Bro laid a trap with 
– one which Grandoli fell squarely into when he raised to $2,000 with 
.
Nikos took his defensive duties seriously with a flat behind with 
while Yau opted to wave the white flag and tread no further. Dr. P, on the other hand, went for the ultimate defensive play: an all-in for $14,675. All the while, Rich Asian Bro was laying in the weeds with his pocket aces. In a self-admittedly greedy move, he opted to flat Dr. P's jam, inviting both Grandoli and Nikos to come along – an invitation they both happily accepted.
Rich Asian Bro slow-played himself into his own demise in this pot. With $54,150 in the middle before any of the community cards were dealt (keep in mind this is a $25/$50 game), the flop came down 
. While Rich Asian Bro retained the lead with his pocket pair, Grandoli connected strongly with an open-ended straight draw and the measly $8,000 continuation bet from his opponent was never going to dissuade him from seeing a turn.
The 
on the turn left Rich Asian Bro drawing stone dead, but he continued to bet, firing $15,000 of his remaining $33,500.
"And there it is for Mariano. Was there any doubt?" asked Kyle Raverby from the commentary booth. "Was there any doubt? Rich Asian Bro slow-played those aces to try to maximize the amount of money in there and now he's drawing dead."
Grandoli quickly moved all-in for the rest of it and Rich Asian Bro had to call it off with so much money in the middle – only to see the bad news. The meaningless 
completed the board and, with that, Grandoli hauled in the entire $137,150 pot.
Oh, and the extra $1,000 from each player at the table.
