Recently, I was watching an episode of
High Stakes Poker on the
Game Show Network. This was a special session in which the buy-in was $500,000, and they encouraged the players to bring stacks of cash to the table! Can you imagine the $50,000 "bricks of cash" (five $10,000 bundles of $100 bills, all wrapped up together) piled high in front of each player? It really was quite a sight to behold. And can you imagine the size of some of the pots? After all, more than one player bought in for $1 million. Let's just say this: It was a good day to get lucky!
We shot
High Stakes Poker over three days, filming three eight-hour sessions. Each eight-hour session was turned into four one-hour television shows. So, that three days of filming turned into 12 episodes of
High Stakes Poker. I played the first two days when the buy-in was $100,000, but I skipped the $500,000 buy-in session, even though I was up $300,000 after the first two days of play. Risking $500,000 in one hand sounds a little bit crazy, even to a guy like me!
The participants in the game were: Sammy Farha, Barry Greenstein, David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius, Jamie Gold, Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, Antonio "The Magician" Esfandiari, and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte (who was donating most of his winnings to his charitable foundation). I believe that good money management dictates that a player should have at least $20 million in cash in order to play in this game. I'm not sure who has that much cash in this group, but I know that Laliberte can afford this game!
The blinds were $300-$600-$1,200 - it is very unusual to have three blinds - with a $100 a man ante. With about 10 minutes to go in the show, a monster pot came up. Antonius opened for $4,000 with A-J, and Gold made it $14,000 to go with K-K, saying, "I hope everyone folds; I would like to win the pot." The flop came down Q
10
3
, Antonius checked, Gold bet $15,000, and Antonius called. The turn card was the K
! Antonius had made an ace-high straight, and Gold had a set of kings. Antonius bet out $45,000, and Gold announced, "I raise." Gold then counted his chips for about one minute before he announced, "I'm all in." Gold called the $45,000 bet, and raised a whopping $296,000! Antonius called immediately, making this a $743,000 pot - the biggest in the history of the
High Stakes Poker television show. Then Gold asked, "Do you want to run it three times?" In other words, Gold offered Antonius the option of dealing three separate "last cards," each worth almost $250,000 (one-third of the pot). Dealing more than one last card takes some of the luck out of the game, and it is a common practice in high-stakes side games. Antonius - a 77-to-23 favorite - agreed to three times, and Gold hit a queen to win the first one and a 3 to win the second one, and, finally, Antonius hit an 8 to win the third one.
Let's take a closer look at this record-setting pot. I like Antonius' opening bet of $4,000 with A-J, I like Gold's $10,000 reraise with K-K, and I like Antonius's $10,000 call. On the flop, Gold's $15,000 bet was fine with me (some players would have bet more like $25,000, as the pot contained $32,000 or so), as was Antonius' $15,000 call. On the turn, I love Antonius' $45,000 bet. Too often these days, players check when they make a strong hand to try to lure their opponent into betting. Antonius fired right out! This $45,000 bet should have given Gold cause to pause. I mean, if the king gave him a set, but Antonius was the one who bet out big, what was Antonius likely to have? (Hint: not a king.) Thus, Gold should have just called on the turn, not raised, because he risked getting about $350,000 into the $62,000 pot as more than a 3-to-1 underdog. Also, by merely calling the bet on the turn, he would give Antonius the chance to bluff again (in the case in which Antonius was bluffing), or bet his two pair again (in the case in which Antonius had Q-10 or something similar). So, I hate Gold's raise on the turn. He will get called only by a hand that beats him! The king on the turn was an "amateur trap," as it is tough for an amateur not to raise in that situation. However, a seasoned pro is supposed to see that trap and avoid falling into it, having fallen into it a few times before.
Although I don't like Gold's play in this hand, I must say that I think that he has a chance to become the best fast player in history someday. No one bluffs like Gold! He even bluffed Tuan Le at the
World Poker Tour Championship - not once, twice, or even three times, but five times! For the record, I have never bluffed Le before. Of course, Gold has to keep up this torrid pace of play for another 20 years before we can begin to compare him to the greatest fast player in history: Stu Ungar. All I'm saying now is that Gold is on the path to fast-play history, but it's early, like the first mile or two of a 20-mile trek. Daniel Negreanu also has played extremely fast for a number of years, and although he doesn't bluff like Ungar, he plays as many hands and makes great call after great call. And he has been doing it for nearly 10 years. Stay tuned!
