Hustler Casino Live kicks off its third annual Million Dollar Game on Monday, April 28, but the action has already begun in Los Angeles as 51 players entered into a $25,000 satellite-style event on Sunday – with a seat in the biggest live-streamed game of the year as the top prize.
The Wild Card Tournaments – introduced this year – will send two lucky players to battle it out during the week-long cash game. Hustler Casino Live boss Ryan Feldman announced a second Wild Card Tournament will run on Tuesday, April 30.
You can watch all the action, as it played, out below.
With a semi-winner-take-all format in place – and a stipulation that the first-place finisher must put the $1M in play during the Million Dollar Game – the stakes were slightly elevated when compared to a standard event. Prior to the start of the first Wild Card Tournament, a turbo satellite – priced at $5,000 per entry – sent four players into the larger event.
With $1M set aside for the winner, the remaining $275,000 was split amongst the second, third, and fourth place finishers.
The hunt for a $1M seat
The Million Dollar Game Wild Card Tournament drew a field peppered with notable names and Hustler Casino Live regulars, including Ethan 'Rampage' Yau, Mikki Mase, Arden Cho, Alexandra Botez, Erick Lindgren, and Dan Shak. With blind levels set at just 20 minutes, several players were sent to the rebuy desk in the early goings as players battled to build big stacks.
When the late registration period drew to a close, roughly 30 players returned to the tables following a quick break in play. Amongst the early casualties were Botez and Dylan Flashner, both of whom were sent packing by Randy '3Coin' Sadler in a three-way all in. Sadler turned trips with his 
to down Botez's 
and Flashner's 
.
Hustler Casino Live regular Luda Chris exited early when an ill-timed shove with 
left him drawing thin against Lindgren's . The runout provided no miracles and Chris' day ended in short order. Lindgren went on to scoop a massive three-way pot to seize the chip lead. On the 
flop, three players were all-in.
Lindgren: 
Wesley Fei: 
Jake: 
Fei had the best of it for the moment, poised to eliminate both players, but the 
on the turn completed Lindgren's flush and the river brought no board pair.
Lindgren runs away with it
With the blinds on the rise, it didn't take long for the field to whittle down to a single table. Once there, Lindgren began to run away with it. As one of the big stacks at the final table, Lindgren put the pressure on his opponents. When play reached four-handed, Lindgren held a slight chip lead over the rest of the field.
In a clash of the two big stacks, Lindgren got his chips in way ahead against Britney when he flopped a set against her top pair, top kicker. Both players loved their hands and the chips went in the middle. Lindgren locked up the pot on the turn and held a monster chip lead. When he eliminated Ala shortly after, he took a nearly 10-to-1 lead into heads up play against Coach Collins.
The battle between Collins and Lindgren lasted quite some time as the former managed to double a few times to keep himself in the fight. Lindgren's chip lead was too great for Collins to overcome, however, and he had to settle for second place.
Lindgren, a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner and two-time World Poker Tour (WPT) champion, once dominated the poker world during the poker boom era. But he fell on hard times in the early 2010s financially, running up debts and admitting to struggling with a gambling addiction. He hasn't won a major tournament since 2013, but he'll have an opportunity on Monday to win some life-changing money.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erick Lindgren | $1,000,000 |
| 2 | Coach Collins | $150,000 |
| 3 | Ala | $75,000 |
| 4 | Britney | $25,000 |
Images courtesy of Hustler Casino Live.
