The ninth episode of High Stakes Poker Season 13 aired Monday night on PokerGO with the same group of players returning to the felt for more $500/$1,000/$1,000 (BBA) action.
After taking a beating on last week's episode, Nik Airball started the episode as the table short stack – a rarity for him – with just $208,500 in front of him. Justin Gavri had Airball slightly covered with $251,500, while Brandon Steven sat above them both on a $471,500 stack.
DoorDash founder Stanley Tang had crossed the half a million dollar mark with $515,500, joined by Humboldt Mike and Scratch CEO Sameh Elamawy with $524,500 and $559,000 respectively. Andrew Robl and his $718,500 stack towered above the rest of the table. Jennifer Tilly arrived just moments late to the party, relieving Airball of his short stack title with her $200,000 buy-in.
Gavri began the episode with back-to-back four-bet pots, winning the first preflop with 
, but losing the second postflop with 
. After raking in a $244,000 pot with 
it seemed as though the episode would be all about Gavri and his big pairs. Until that is, Elamawy decided to run one of the biggest bluffs in High Stakes Poker history – perhaps taking inspiration from the moniker of one of his tablemates.
Elamawy goes three streets with an airball
It all started, as these things often do, with a double straddle. The first straddle came from Elamawy, but Mike wasn't satisfied with only $2,000 in blind money and added his own $4,000 straddle to the mix. With $8,500 already in the middle, before any player peeled back a card, the scene was set for a clash of expensive proportions.
The action folded around to Robl in the big blind, who put in a raise to $16,000 with 
. Elamawy, next to act, put in the additional $14,000 with 
and Mike came along as well with 
. The three players went to the 
flop and Robl started with a check. Elamawy followed suit, but Mike wanted to build a pot with his nut flush draw and bet out for $29,000. Robl pitched his cards back to the dealer, but Elamawy wasn't ready to relinquish his hand just yet. Instead, he reached for raising chips and bumped up the action to $109,000. Mike took a few moments to consider the raise and how best to respond before settling on a call.
With $267,500 in the middle, the turn came down the 
– no help whatsoever to Elamawy, while Mike gained even more equity in the form of a gutshot straight draw to go with his flush draw. Undeterred, Elamawy fired a second shell, sizing up this time to $182,000. After eyeing up his opponent's remaining chips and exchanging a few words, Mike slid calling chips into the middle.
'Oh no!'
The river 
saw Mike brick all of his draws and, despite having the best hand with ace-high, he couldn't possibly know he was best. Thus, when Elamawy stacked up the remaining chips, all $186,000 of them, and pushed them over the betting line, Mike struggled to divine any hands he remained ahead of.
After a few agonizing moments, Mike declared: "I fold." As the dealer pushed the pot in Elamawy's direction, the table asked the pressing question, "Show the bluff, Sameh?"
"I'm just worried that–I feel it's not fair to show for the other people. Okay, I'll do this one," said Elamawy as he flipped his cards over.
On seeing the bluff, Mike threw his hands above his head, crying out, "Oh, no!"
The rest of the table, Elamawy included, erupted into a mix of laughter and various shows of disbelief.
Images Courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
