Player Notes: How much to play the Million Dollar Game?

Wow. Who pulls up a chair in one of those? Bezos vs. Zuckerberg, heads-up? I’d pay to see that, but no — these cash games attract a lot of the same players you’ll often see on the HCL stream; people like [checks notes] ‘Steve’, ‘Peter’ and ‘Jack.’

Come on now, those sound made up. Do any of these guys have last names? I assume so, but it’s that mix of a friendly, informal atmosphere and the huge fortunes being moved around the table that give this game its special something. You might get the odd superstar like Tom Dwan or Doug Polk turn up, but creating a game as big as this is complicated; players with big bankrolls don’t generally want the best players in the world sitting down with them.

So, no Daniel Negreanu? No. In fact, he's said he finds the idea of playing no-limit hold'em cash games "boring."

That can't be true, I've seen him play razz. So this game plays really tight? That depends on who you’re watching, but in general these are pretty action-packed affairs. Monday’s big winner was ‘Texas’ Mike Moncek, who won over $1.5M with an 85% VPIP.

Did you just call me ‘VPIP’? It stands for ‘voluntarily put in pot’ — the higher the number, the more pots you've played. Moncek likes to play a lot of pots.

Just how big do these pots get? Think big. Two years ago Tom Dwan raked in $3.1M in a single hand to set a record for the biggest televised pot of all time.

Must be nice to hit the nuts in a game that big. He didn’t have the nuts (unless you mean ‘cojones’). He had an overpair to a paired board showing three to a straight.

How about last year? Another big one. Alan Keating won a pot worth $2.4M.

Let me guess, with an overpair on a dangerous-looking board? Not that time. He had nothing but draws until he hit his straight on the river.

So the higher I play, the looser I should be? Poker’s never that simple, now, is it? Every hand’s a new puzzle, it’s always going to depend on the opposition, the table dynamics and a whole bunch of other factors. That said, you might have noticed that live-streamed games are often fairly action-heavy. Having your hole cards streamed to the world is a rare table dynamic, but it’s going to have an effect for sure. And of course it should go without saying that you should never play for more than you can afford.

Okay, you’ve convinced me; I’m going to sit this one out. Probably for the best. You never know when you’ll need a million dollars. Like, what if you run out of eggs?

So this year’s game has already happened? Just my luck, I missed it all. No, you didn’t: it started on Monday and runs through to this Friday.

Is it at least cheap to watch? Better than cheap, it’s free on YouTube.

Do say: “Money talks…”

Don’t say: “...I just heard mine say ‘goodbye’”

^{Featured image courtesy of Hustler Casino Live.}