The Season 14 finale of High Stakes Poker aired Monday evening, providing viewers with the conclusion to an action-packed run of episodes.
Alan Keating, Rick Salomon, Nik 'Airball' Arcot, Peter Wang, Justin Gavri, and Sam Kiki continued their $500/$1,000 battle. With roughly $4M in play and the straddle active nearly every hand, the big pots came fast and furious as each player fought hard to turn a profit before the season's end.
Nuts + second-nuts = nightmare for Arcot
With Wang's $2,000 straddle in play, Kiki kicked off the action with a limp from up front with 
before Arcot put in a raise to $10,000 with 
. When the action folded around to him in the straddle, Wang looked down at 
and quickly matched the $10,000 – as did Kiki.
On the 
flop, the action checked through to the 
turn. With $32,500 in the middle, Wang seized the betting lead and fired out for $20,000 with his top pair and nut flush draw. Kiki came along with just nine-high and a gutshot straight draw and Arcot continued as well with his king-high flush draw. On the 
river, both Wang and Arcot improved to a flush – the nuts versus the second nuts – but it was Kiki who came out firing when checked to, betting $100,000 into the $92,500 pot.
Arcot thought for a few seconds before making the call, but when the action returned to Wang, he opted to raise to $325,000 with the nut flush. Kiki fled the scene immediately, but Arcot had a tougher decision. Eventually, he tossed a stack of cranberry-colored $25,000 chips across the betting line for a call – only to see the bad news as Wang hauled in the $842,500 pot.
Salomon's rockets hit the target
Another key hand saw Salomon manage to cobble together a sizable pot to offset his heavy losses. Despite spinning his $40,000 stack into more than $400,000 on the previous episode, Salomon was still in the hole and desperate to drive the action to get out.
With the $4,000 straddle in front of Arcot and the $8,000 double straddle in play from Keating, Salomon looked down at 
on the button and raised to $35,000. The action folded all the way around to Keating, who looked down at 
and matched Salomon's $35,000 raise.
On the 
flop, Keating connected with a no-good top pair and was in trouble. Salomon continued for $30,000 and Keating quickly made the call. The turn 
didn't slow Salomon as he bet again, this time for $45,000. Keating, undeterred by the flush completer, made the call once more to bring the pot to $227,000.
On the river 
– a blank – Salomon fired another $125,000 across the betting line. Keating didn't love the spot and considered his options, but eventually put the money in. Salomon quickly announced his holding and Keating sent his cards into the muck.
As the episode marked the end of Season 14 of High Stakes Poker, Keating's revenge will have to be served cold.
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
