High Stakes Poker Season 15 has once again proved itself to be the holiday gift that keeps on giving.
On December 23, PokerGO blessed the community with all 17 episodes of the show's latest season. Thus far, we've recapped the best of the action from Episodes 1-5 and 6-8 – be sure to check out the highlights from those episodes before reading on – and now it's time to turn our attention to Episodes 9-11 as a new(ish) crop of players took to the High Stakes Poker felt for $200/$400 cash game action.
Sameh Elamawy, Justin Gavri, and Andrew Robl reclaimed their seats as holdovers from the previous group, while Eric Hicks, Steve Swedlow, The Professor, and Jeremy Stein stepped in to replace the outgoing players.
Episode 9: Elamawy goes for it
Through the early goings of Episode 9, Swedlow took two brutal beats in quick succession. In the first, his 
fell to Elamawy's 
on a 
flop. With no assistance for Swedlow on the turn or river, the $209,100 pot went Elamawy's way. In the second, it was an all-too-familiar set of circumstances. Swedlow's 
looked good on the 
flop, but Robl's 
looked a whole lot better. When the money went in, Swedlow once again found himself rooting for a full house. And, once again, the poker gods failed to deliver as Robl's straight held up to scoop the $256,100 pot.
Swedlow's misfortunes, while entertaining to the neutral viewer, aren't the highlight of the episode – Robl and Elamawy provide that.
With the $3,200 triple straddle active in front of Robl, Elamawy opened the action with a raise from the big blind to $12,000 with 
and nearly $350,000 in his stack. When the action folded around to him, Robl peeled 
and three-bet to $36,000.
Hand over, right? Wrong. Elamawy opted to drop the hammer with a four-bet to $92,000.
After a long time spent in the tank, Robl made the call to bring the pot to $187,100 and usher in the 
flop. Elamawy kept his foot on the gas with a bet of $75,000 and Robl again thought through the spot carefully before eventually settling on a call. With $337,100 in the pot, the 
slid in on the turn and Elamawy dialed up another $75,000 bet, leaving himself only $104,000 behind.
Undeterred, Robl called again and the 
river completed the board. Elamawy took a glance over at Robl and then shipped the remainder of his chips into the middle. With $591,100 out there and only $104,000 required to call, Robl was getting an incredibly attractive price to reach showdown.
"I'm probably beat, but I'm not folding now," Robl said as he tossed a handful of chips across the betting line.
"Can you beat 7-high?" Elamawy responded with a laugh. "I didn't think I was gonna get you to fold, but..."
Episode 10: Elamawy vs. Robl Round 2
In Episode 10, Elamawy and Robl clashed again – and, big surprise here, the latter had the best of it for the second time. As the episode drew to a close, Elamawy looked down at 
and raised to $4,000. Robl found 
in the big blind and three-bet to $20,000, squeezing out the players in the straddle positions.
Elamawy made the call to bring in the 
flop and Robl continued with a small sizing, only $10,000. With his top pair, Elamawy wasn't going anywhere and he matched the wager. The 
on the turn flipped the script entirely as Robl vaulted back into the lead with a full house. With $63,100 in the middle, Robl opted to play it sneaky with a check and Elamawy took the bait, firing $25,000 into the abyss.
Robl's ensuing raise to $60,000 was met with a quick call from Elamawy and the pot swelled to $183,100. The 
river completed the runout and Robl moved all-in for Elamawy's remaining $112,000.
"I feel like I'm beat," Elamawy said immediately. "I'm in your same spot, Robl, where I don't like the call, but..."
As he spoke, he flashed his for the table to see.
"Eh, have it, Robl. It's not my day anyway," he continued, flicking a single chip in for a call.
"I have kings," Robl said, instantly rolling over his full house to claim the $406,700 pot.
With that pot, Robl's stack size soared above the seven-figure mark to $1,184,300 – more than the rest of the table combined.
Episode 11: The drinks flow
In Episode 11, the wine flowed. As the table drank to their delight, it was a quite showing for Robl – but Hicks stepped in to fill the void in the action. On multiple occasions, Hicks got all of his chips in the middle, only to chop up the money across two runouts. Then his streak of chopped pots ran dry and
With the $3,200 straddle in play, Elamawy limped in with 
before Hicks opted to jam in his entire $108,000 stack with 
. While the rest of the table returned their cards to the dealer, Elamawy wasn't so quick to abandon his hand.
"I have a marginal hand," he explained. "If you're trying to get me to call I need you to show me one card."
"Okay, I'll show you one card," Hicks replied as he revealed the .
On seeing the card, Elamawy instantly made the call and the players agreed to run two boards. Neither provided the requisite three-outer for Hicks and a request for a $200,000 reload was relayed.
The two clashed again in another pot with the $3,200 straddle live. Elamawy raised to $20,000 with and Hicks called with . On the 
flop, Hicks connected with a draw to the nut flush, but no money went in as Elamawy checked behind. The turn added a gutshot straight draw to Hicks' arsenal, but it was Elamawy who improved in a big way as he made top pair. Hicks took the betting lead, however, firing $35,000 into the $46,300 in the pot.
Elamawy called quickly to bring in the 
on the river. Hicks, now having made a top pair of his own, continued for $60,000. Now armed with top two pair, Elamawy confidently moved all-in over the top. After hemming and hawing momentarily, Hicks made the call – only to see the bad news as his opponent rolled over the winner. In an unexpected turn of events, Hicks didn't realize the hand was over.
"Ah, I don't think I can win," he said. "Oh, I do have outs. Let's do twice."
Immediately, the table made it clear that the board had been run to completion. There were no more cards to come.
"How drunk are you guys?" Swedlow asked. "What are you talking about?"
With back to back big beats, Hicks took his leave from the PokerGO Studio – another casualty in the Season of Blood.
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
