Poker news | Feb 08, 2021
Tom Dwan Wins Pot Worth Almost $1 Million on High Stakes Poker
By RTR Dennis
Tom Dwan is one of the poker legends who’ve been mixing it up in the rebooted High Stakes Poker (HSP). In the most-recent episode, Dwan was involved in a pot worth $985,000.
Episode 5 saw three players compete for the massive pot. The players each agreed to run the hand three times. Dwan won every time and scooped the entire $985k.
How the Hand Went Down
Dwan and company were playing in a $400/$800 NL hold’em game with a $1,600 straddle. The miraculous hand started with Bellande paying the straddle while holding Ac-Kc.
Rick Salomon opened the betting action with $4,000. Brandon Steven called with Ad-Jd, while Dwan also called from the button with pocket queens. Lynn Ji, who held Qh-10h, called as well from the big blind.
Bellande raised to $11,000 in hopes of pushing others out of the hand. However, Salomon and Steven stuck around by calling.
Dwan raised to $54,000. Li followed by shoving her $163,000 stack into the middle. Bellande also shoved his stack ($399,000) too.
Solomon and Steven both chose to fold by this point. Dwan, who had Bellande and Li covered, finished the furious preflop action by calling.
With nearly $1 million on the line, Bellande (Ac-Kc), Li (Qh-10h), and Dwan (Qc-Qs) agreed to run the hand three times. Here’s how the rundowns went:
- #1: Board was Jc-9h-9s-4h-10s – Dwan wins with a two pair.
- #2: Board was Qd-Jh-3s7s-Ah – Dwan wins with three-of-a-kind.
- #3: Board was 5s-5d-5h-7h-7d – Dwan wins with the best full house (fives over queens).
After starring in both online poker and televised games for years, Tom Dwan is one of the game’s biggest legends. It’s nice to see him back in action again and winning huge pots.
More on the High Stakes Poker Reboot
High Stakes Poker originally ran for four seasons from Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2007. It relaunched for another three seasons from March 2009 to May 2011.
Following over a nine-year lapse, HSP was brought back in late 2020. It now runs through the subscription-based PokerGo app.
One episode airs every Wednesday. The original hosts, AJ Benza and Gabe Kaplan, are calling the action again.
Several previous stars from the old seasons have returned as well. Bellande and Dwan, who were regulars on HSP in the past, have graced some episodes. Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, Doug Polk, and other notable players are set to make appearances in future episodes.
For anybody who wondered if HSP could recapture its glory days, the massive $985k pot between Dwan, Li, and Bellande shows that there’s plenty of fireworks in the reboot.