It's Monday evening once again and the latest episode of High Stakes Poker has arrived. Alan Keating, Nik 'Airball' Arcot, Justin Gavri, Rick Salomon, and Peter Wang returned to the felt for more $500/$1,000 action while Sam Kiki – founder of MonkeyTilt – made his High Stakes Poker debut.
It may have been Kiki's first time on the show, but he had plenty of history with both Keating and Salomon – more than enough to generate a couple of wild hands against the latter.
Salomon vs. Kiki round one
In the first of their encounters, Kiki kicked off the action with a raise to $13,000 with 
and Salomon made the call from the small blind with 
.
On the 
flop, both players had something to work with and Kiki continued to fire, betting $12,000 into the $28,000 pot. Salomon responded with a quick raise to $37,000 and Kiki matched the bet after some consideration.
On the 
turn, Salomon kept the pressure on with a $60,000 bet, but Kiki moved all-in over the top for $178,000 total. After a quick count, Salomon made the call and both players agreed to run two river cards.
"I'm alive," said Salomon when he saw Kiki's hand. Unfortunately for Salomon, neither river card improved his hand and the entire $458,000 pot went Kiki's way.
Ace-queen no good for Salomon
In their second encounter, it was Wang who started the action with a raise to $3,000 before Kiki, next to act, fired in a three-bet with 
. In the small blind, Salomon looked down at 
and bumped it up to $80,000 – clearing out the rest of the field, Wang included.
Kiki wasn't ready to throw in the towel just yet, though. "Making donations," he muttered as he made the call. "Making donations."
On the 
flop, Kiki connected with top pair while Salomon whiffed completely. Undeterred by his lack of a hand, Salomon verbally announced his all-in within seconds of the flop coming down. Kiki quickly checked his cards and then made the call to bring the pot to $520,000.
Both players once again agreed to run the board out twice and, once again, Salomon failed to improve on either runout – sending another huge pot Kiki's way. With no more ammunition in his arsenal, Salomon was forced to reload.
For the second time this season, Salomon turned to the PokerGO Studio staff off-camera and said, "Give me a million, please."
Salomon strikes back
With a fresh $1,000,000 in front of him, Salomon was ready to battle once more and wasted no time getting back into the action. Facing a raise to $2,000 from Keating in front of him, Salomon pounced with 
and three-bet to $10,000. Gavri called from the button with 
and Kiki came along from the big blind with 
. Keating wasn't going anywhere either and matched the raise with his 
.
On the 
flop, Salomon connected with top and bottom pair while two of his opponents caught a piece as well – Gavri with top pair and Kiki with the flush draw. Salomon quickly fired $25,000 across the betting line and both Gavri and Kiki made the call while Keating fled the scene.
The turn improved Kiki to a flush, but the action checked through to bring in the 
river and Salomon vaulted back into the lead with his full house. With $116,500 in the middle, Salomon opted for an overbet sizing of $150,000. Gavri considered his options for a moment before wisely finding the fold button, but Kiki quickly flicked a chip across the betting line for a call – only to hear the bad news.
"I got a full house," Salomon said as he rolled over his hand.
"Nice, dude," came the reply from Kiki. "Good hand."
The $1M knockout blow
It was the final hand of the episode that brought the seven-figure sweat to life. With the $2,000 straddle in play, Keating raised to $4,000 with 
before Salomon fired out a $20,000 three-bet with 
. Wang looked down at in the big blind and opted to flat-call the $20,000. Kiki, however, found 
in the straddle and four-bet to $140,000. Keating, somewhat reluctantly, tossed his queen-high holding into the muck, but Salomon wasn't in a folding mood.
Instead, he uttered the magic words and slid a stack of $25,000 cranberry chips across the betting line.
"Oh my God," said Nick Schulman from the commentary booth. "Did he just say all in?"
With the action back on him, Wang looked perplexed at the raises in front of him and, eventually, painfully, returned his cards to the dealer. Kiki knew exactly where he was at and quickly made the call to bring the pot to a whopping $1,008,500.
When the hands were revealed, Wang told the table – through his translator Arcot – that he folded pocket queens, prompting an array of incredulous responses.
Salomon and Kiki, meanwhile, once again agreed to run two boards. On the first runout, Kiki's superior holding looked to be in great shape on the 
flop, but the 
turn improved Salomon to two pair and left Kiki drawing thin. The 
river, however, counterfeited Salomon's two pair and restored order to the situation as Kiki scooped the first board.
"I knew it was coming," Salomon said as he shook his head slightly.
The second runout failed to match the drama of the first as it came down 
to leave Salomon drawing dead on the turn as Kiki hauled in the entirety of the massive seven-figure pot.
High Stakes Poker airs Monday evenings at 8:00pm ET, exclusively on PokerGO.
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
