The fourth night of the High Stakes Poker LIVE week-long run brought out the big guns.
Andrew Robl assembled a lineup complete with more than a few gamble-heavy players, including Eric Wasserson, Rick Salomon, and 'Texas Mike' Moncek.
Alongside the heavy hitters were the business titans: Sameh Elamawy, Stanley Tang, and Kirk Brown.
And with fan favorites Ali Nejad and Nick Schulman in the commentary booth, all the ingredients for a night of high quality poker action were assembled.
When the game began there was more than $3,000,000 in play – and that was prior to Salomon's arrival.
When the dust cleared there was upwards of $9,000,000 on the table – and that was after Salomon's early departure with profit.
By that metric, Friday's game stands as the biggest in the show's storied history.
Robl, having traded barbs with Wasserson on social media in the days leading up to the game, covered the table with $1,050,000 in front of him to start. The extra $50,000 was in play specifically to ensure he had enough to put all of Wasserson's $1,000,000 buy-in on the line at any moment. Robl's pregame banter might have been light-hearted, even in jest, but when it came time to battle he wasn't messing around.
The others didn't put up as much money to start, but with straddles aplenty and a cooperative deck lending a hand, several players were forced to reach for rebuy chips throughout the evening.
Win some, lose some for 'Texas Mike'
It was a highlight reel of a game, with no less than five massive seven-figure pots – and countless mid-to-high six-figure hands as well. If you want to watch the entire replay, scroll up and click the play button.
The first of the seven-figure eye-waterers came when Robl and Moncek clashed in a hand that saw the latter get three streets of value with the stone cold nuts.
Robl improved to a straight on the turn while drawing dead and couldn't find the fold button – certainly not against Moncek. When the accounting was sorted, Moncek was left to haul in the $1,517,500 pot.
Those hard-earned chips didn't linger long in Moncek's stack, however. With the quadruple straddle live in front of Tang, Moncek limped in with 
only to watch as Wasserson bumped it up to $40,000.
Brown and Tang fled the scene from their respective straddles, but Moncek stuck around to see a flop.
On the 
flop, Wasserson continued for $50,000 and Moncek stuck around a second time, much to his own demise. The 
turn drew another bet from Wasserson and Moncek opted to move all-in over the top with just an open-ended straight draw. Wasserson called quickly with top set and the two players agreed to a single runout – roll the tape below to see how it all panned out.
$1.7M full house vs. full house cooler
As Schulman noted at the start of this one, it was a rare un-straddled pot. Tang, with 
, raised to $4,000 and picked up two callers: Elamawy with 
and Wasserson with 
.
With only $14,500 in the middle, the 
flop smashed Wasserson as he connected with top two pair. Tang's $5,000 continuation bet was met with a call from Elamawy, who had a top pair of his own, before Wasserson pounced with a raise to $25,000. Tang quickly and impressively folded his overpair, but Elamawy made the call to see the turn – gin for him as he improved to a superior two pair.
Another $50,000 was deposited into the middle by both players and the river 
was an ugly one for Wasserson.
Both players improved to a full house, but Elamawy had the better of it.
Kirk Brown KO'd
After taking a big loss in a hand just prior to this one, Brown was already well-steamed and Robl's three-bet to $75,000 with 
wasn't enough to deter him from folding his 
.
Tang was getting a great price to set mine with his 
and came along as well. The 
flop yielded the two-outer he sought, but the action checked around. The 
turn provided Brown with some emergency backup outs as Tang lead into field for $150,000. Robl mucked his pocket pair, leaving Brown to quickly announce an all-in for $726,500.
After some quick accounting, Tang called to bring the pot to $1,695,000. Brown insisted on running the river just once, drawing only to his flush outs – but no help arrived.
Another no-good full house for Wasserson
And then came the final seven-figure pot of the game – not the biggest of the night, but still the coup de grace.
It was another brutal beat for Wasserson, perhaps even more painful than his previous clash with Elamawy.
In this one, his turned set went down in flames as a two-outer river came in for Tang – you're going to want to watch it play out.
When the final tally came down, it was a bloodbath for Robl, Wasserson, Moncek, and Brown – and a bonanza for Tang and Elamawy.
- Andrew Robl: -$711,500
- 'Texas Mike' Moncek: -$1,061,000
- Eric Wasserson: -1,110,500
- Stanley Tang: +1,522,500
- Sameh Elamawy: +1,445,500
- Kirk Brown: -$500,000
