The action ramps up this weekend at the Lodge Card Club in Austin, Texas with two days of streamed high stakes cash games, plus the $1,000 Heads Up Open and the monthly $30,000 GTD The Big One.
Ethan 'Rampage' Yau and Mariano, two of the shining stars in the poker vlogging space, have made the trip down to Texas to take part in the action. Both Yau and Mariano will play in Friday and Saturday's cash game lineups. Yau's trip to Austin got off to a great start as he took on Lodge co-owner Doug Polk earlier this week in a heads-up match, winning $16,000 in the process.
The action-packed weekend comes on the heels of The Lodge's back-to-back women's night streamed games, both of which were massive successes. Then, earlier this month, The Lodge honored the late, great Doyle Brunson on October 2 (10/2) the day now known in the poker community as Doyle Brunson Day.
The Heads Up Open began today with the first of two starting flights. Andrew Moreno and Doug Polk both made appearances in the first starting flight, along with numerous Lodge regulars.
Polk was unable to conquer his starting flight, but can still fire again on Saturday if he chooses to.
The Big One is The Lodge's largest monthly tournament, taking place every second Saturday of each month. The unlimited re-entries allowed in the event tend to bloat the prize pool well beyond the guarantee and the October iteration of the tournament looks to follow suit.
Plus, when you factor in the potential out-of-town players drawn to The Lodge by Yau and Mariano, the tournament turnout could see an extra bump.
Friday night lights at The Lodge
The Friday night cash game line up included Ethan 'Rampage' Yau, Mariano, and Skull Mike (one half of The Lodge's commentary duo). The stakes were high, $25/$50/$100 with the $50 big blind ante in play, and the pots ballooned quickly.
It's certainly not the first time we've seen Yau and Mariano battle it out on the live streamed felt, but it's always fun to watch the vlog masters go at it and tonight's stream saw both players involving themselves in the action. Mariano in particular had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve, including playing a couple of hands with one of his two cards exposed.
Thankfully, The Lodge's YouTube channel gets to their timestamps in an incredibly efficient manner. It's perfect for those that don't have the time to watch the entire stream, but still want to tune in for the fireworks. The entire stream, every hand played, remains available to watch. Check it out down below!
A promising Saturday lineup
Saturday's lineup adds some serious heat into the mix. One of The Lodge high stakes regulars, Taras, will step into the arena. Taras has a reputation for being a bit of wild man at the table, not at all afraid to battle with speculative holdings. If you want a little more information or just a refresher on the kind of player Taras is, just take a look at this hand he played vs. Brad Owen. It speaks volumes and Polk breaks it down beautifully.
Taras adds a heap of spice to any table he sits at. Expect this game to be business as usual. The other big addition the lineup is Polk himself. After the loss to Yau earlier in the week, Polk may seek out a bit of revenge on the YouTube sensation. Adding Taras and Polk to the lineup, with Yau and Mariano already in there, should provide for some serious action if the deck cooperates.
The cards are in the air at 4:00pm ET with all the coverage playing out on The Lodge's YouTube channel, free of charge.
