The first Hustler Casino Live 24-hour stream has just finished, and it was a wild ride that delivered the “action and huge pots” that HCL head honcho Ryan Feldman hoped for before petering out towards the end.
Feldman thought Alan Keating would go the distance. In the end, no one made it through the full 24 hours, but one player managed to dig a $1.14m hole for himself.
That player was Santhosh Suvarna, and by the end of the draining session, it was show regular Charles “Prince Charles” Yu who was the biggest winner, taking home a $689,000 profit.
Gunning for the title of longest livestreamed cash game in poker history, HCL big names Nik “Airball”, Keating, the Professor, Charles and Andy Stacks did their best to please the fans.
Here’s a timeline of who did what, when and how, and, of course, where all the money went!
Hours 1-3
With Keating and Hanks pushing the action early, there was a good vibe about the table, with music maestro “JBoogs” name-dropping and Mo ordering 12 espresso shots in expectation of a long, long day ahead.
The first huge pot hit in the second hour of play, with DJ landing $400k.
Jibrael delivered the first big cooler of the day when he picked up A-K to DJ's A-J, with two more Aces dropping on the flop.
Santhosh finally arrived and won $70k within minutes of sitting down, unaware of what fate held in store for him.
Hours 4-6
Hanks punted massively to Santhosh, jamming preflop with K-J, running into A-K, and losing both runouts to find himself stuck $250k.
DJ left just as hour five kicked in, while Santhosh played K-7 three times in 15 minutes, winning every single time. He was still blissfully unaware of what was coming.
Getting paid with aces isn’t easy, but Alan Keating showed how it’s done. Santhosh was the victim over three streets of value.
Nik Airball finally joined the game, replacing Jibrael, and immediately got stacked with kings against eights despite running it twice – a two-outer then a one-outer doing the trick.
Hours 7-9
Play was still loose and free as the second quarter began, with JBoogs flipping for his stack and winning against Keating
Meanwhile, Airball received an early Christmas present from Alan Keating...
Hours 10-12
The blinds went up to a massive $1k/$1k + $1k BB ante and soon found some victims.
“RIP Charles, it’s been fun!” was the commentary room quote as Keating found his kings up against Charles’ queens in a $251,800 pot.
Closing in on halfway through the marathon, Santhosh Suvarna was stuck for close to $900k while the Professor was up nearly $500k. Other big winners were Jibrael (+$260k), JBoogs (+$217k), and Pepe (+$191k) with Charles down $166k among the ranks of the stuck.
Suvarna started moving the right way by cracking Hanks’ aces in a $423,000 pot.
JR joined the game. Hanks had been having a rough time but it was about to get much, much worse. Watch this next one through your fingers. Hanks found himself all-in with nines against JR's tens and they decided to run it twice.
Hanks hit a set on the turn in the first run-out, and although JR made a straight on the river, it gave Hanks a flush. However, Hanks had obviously missed it, and despite having the whole of the second runout to think, he mucked his hand and a $115k winner.
A $25k PLO flip lightened things up, with six players in and Charles winning with just two pair on a potential flush board.
Hours 13-15
Suvarna lost even more, with a $172k pot going JR’s way, while Keating found aces and also a willing partner to play along in the Professor. The result? $300k to Keating, who promptly gave it all back to Charles.
The Professor called it a night, his four-hour stint producing a tidy $190k profit. “He’s that rich that he just wins and leaves,” was the booth’s call as he left his full chip rack on the table.
Suvarna, still in a big hole despite winning a $400k pot with kings against big slick, picked up kings again. This time, though, he ran smack-bang into Airball’s aces...
The $623,000 pot turned out to be the biggest of the marathon 24-hour game and meant Suvarna’s night was at an end, down a tragic $1,139,000.
Andy Stacks joined the game, making it 6-handed once again (Stacks, JR, Charles, Hanks, Airball, Keating) but before he could even sit down he’d lost his entire stack, catching Airball’s shoulder with the racks and spilling every single chip ($300k worth) on the floor.
Hours 16-18
Hanks was having a torrid time in general but won a $579,000 pot, making a dent in his $400k hole.
Keating left the game (down around $7k after crushing for much of the session), and Hanks was last-man-standing after starting the game, with Sashimi joining the fun.
18 hour totals
- Professor +$335,000
- JBoogs +$217,100
- Charles +$193,000
- Nik Airball +$179,200
- Sashimi +$73,000
- Andy Stacks +$25,000
- Keating -$6300
- JR -$45,800
- Hanks -$222,000
- Santhosh -$1,139,000
Hours 19-21
The game quietened down a bit with lots of small pots, though occasionally it flared up violently. Sashimi picked up aces in one big hand and Hanks snap-called her all-in with A-Q.
After 19 hours straight, Hanks – $392,000 down – had enough and racked up, meaning nobody would make the full 24 hours.
Airball eventually joined Hanks, down $345,800 after multiple coolers and horrible spots.
Hours 22-24
Sashimi ordered beers at 10am in the morning but play still slowed to a 4-handed crawl as the clock passed 22 hours of the planned 24-hour marathon.
The regular 6-figure pots of mid-stream faded, with no big clashes but plenty of yawns from the players. Sashimi, however, did her level best to spew off all her good work.
Eventually the clock ticked round to 24:00.01 and when the hand finished, the four remaining players let out a sigh of relief.
It was fun, it was exciting, although towards the end only for the hardy and the insomniacs. It’s very likely HCL will do it again, although the players may have other ideas!
You can watch the full 24-hour live stream at the Hustler Casino Live YouTube page now.
