Tom Dwan received the biggest poker pot ever seen in a televised or livestreamed recreation this week. The 36-year-old, who labored for McDonald’s previous to changing into knowledgeable poker participant, raked in $3.1 million throughout Hustler On line casino Stay’s Million Greenback Recreation early Wednesday morning.
Tom Dwan makes a name towards Wesley Fei to win the most important pot in broadcast poker historical past at Hustler On line casino Stay in LA. (Picture: HCL)
Dwan scored the file pot with pocket queens towards self-proclaimed cryptocurrency millionaire Wesley Fei, 31, who was bluffing.
The hand occurred in a No-Restrict Texas Maintain ’em money recreation with a $1 million minimal buy-in, so the pot measurement wasn’t a shocker. However the record-breaking hand generated plenty of head-scratching on the desk.
Fei was sitting with $2.8 million when the hand started in comparison with Dwan’s $1.5 million. They had been enjoying with $500 and $1,000 blinds plus an escalating big-blind ante that had grown to $3,000. Dwan additionally contributed a voluntary $2,000 third blind known as a straddle. So $6,500 was within the pot earlier than any of the eight gamers noticed their fingers.
I See You
Doug Polk, seated to Wei’s left, difficult issues. The three-time World Collection of Poker bracelet winner declared that he noticed Fei’s playing cards. Fei was the final participant to behave preflop. A newcomer named LSG Hank raised forward of Fei to $7,000, however when Fei seemed all the way down to see Ace-King offsuit, one of many strongest preflop fingers in poker, he three-bet to $30K, regardless of Polk supposedly realizing his playing cards.
At this level, Polk folded. Dwan, whose pair of queens weren’t picked up by the cardboard reader, re-raised to $100K, inflicting LSG Hank to fold. Fei then raised once more to $275K, and Dwan known as. With $562K within the center, the pair noticed a flop — the three of diamonds, 8 of spades, and eight of diamonds — that helped nobody.
Dwan checked, prompting Fei to guess $125K, escalating the pot to $812K and rendering the beforehand chatty desk silent. Dwan known as. The flip once more helped neither participant, and Dwan checked.
River Deep, Mountain of Chips Excessive
“Wesley’s fingers are shaking,” announcer David Tuchman mentioned. “He’s loading up for an additional guess.”
That guess was for $350K and Dwan, with out a lot hesitation, known as it. The river didn’t assist both participant and Dwan checked once more, main Fei to maneuver all in.
This time, Dwan hesitated. He stood up, grabbed a bottle of water, and commenced going over the hand out loud as he confronted a guess for his total stack of $786K.
So Doug noticed his hand,” he mentioned. “It is a bizarre f***ing hand. Doug noticed his hand, tried to speak him out of three-betting, he three-bet anyway,” Dwan mentioned whereas gazing Polk. “I imply, I guessed he flopped an eight, however it appears very exhausting to fold.”
After almost 4 minutes, Dwan threw a stack of chips within the pot to make the decision that received him the most important pot in broadcast poker historical past.
“Ohh,” Fei mentioned as greater than $1.5 million of his chips modified possession. “Can’t bluff Tom.”
Recreation Not Over
The record-shattering hand was solely one in all a number of massive pots within the recreation that began at 3 p.m. PT Tuesday and went till almost 4 a.m. Wednesday. Ultimately, Fei received a giant chunk of his a reimbursement on what turned out to be the second-largest hand in broadcast poker historical past, good for $2.25 million, which he received by turning three-of-a-kind to beat LSG Hank’s pair of queens.
