On Monday's episode of High Stakes Poker, the inevitable happened. With Alan Keating, Rick Salomon, Nik 'Airball' Arcot, and Rick Salomon at the table, it was only a matter of time before the pots encroached into seven-figure territory and, after last week's appetizer, the main course arrived.
The combative foursome listed above were joined by Justin Gavri and Vinny Lingham, but the spotlight of this week's episode fell squarely on Keating and Wang as they added another chapter to the tale of their growing on-felt rivalry. While the pots played along the way were eye-catching in their own right, the final hand of the night brought the real fireworks.
Setting the scene for High Stakes Poker history
As the episode wore on, Keating and Wang continued to dance around one another – each waiting for the right moment to engage their adversary. After losing a pot worth nearly $500,000 to Salomon, Keating excused himself from the table to take a walk and restock on ammunition. When he left the table, he had a little less than $200,000 in front of him – on his return, he added $500,000 to bring his stack level with Wang's and his timing was prescient.
With the $4,000 double straddle in play from Salomon, Keating was the first player to act from the button and opted to slow-play his 
with just a call. From the big blind, Wang shot it up to $14,000 with 
and managed to clear out the rest of the field. Keating, however, wasn't going anywhere. Instead, he pounced on Wang's raise with a three-bet to $69,000. After considering his options, Wang made the call to bring the pot to $145,500 before any of the community cards were dealt.
'Where'd we find this flop from?'
On the 
flop, both players connected strongly – Keating with top set and Wang with the nut flush draw. "Where'd we find this flop from, AJ?" asked Nick Schulman from the commentary booth.
After Wang checked to him, Keating nonchalantly tossed $70,000 across the betting line. "Peter has got to be feeling good here," chimed AJ Benza, just as Wang fired out a $200,000 check-raise.
"I'll tell you who else is feeling good: the guy with top set getting check-raised to 200 dimes," countered Schulman.
Rather than re-open the action with another raise and potentially scare off his opponent, Keating opted to simply call the $200,000 – bringing the pot to $545,000 with two cards still to come. On the 
turn, Wang's hand improved and he immediately announced an all-in shove for his remaining $434,000. Before anyone could even react, Keating tossed his calling chips across the betting line, and suddenly there was $1,412,500 in the middle.
'That happened fast'
Keating, without saying a word, simply raised two fingers aloft – indicating his desire to run out two river cards.
"Okay," came the reply from Wang.
When he saw Keating's hand, Wang appeared uncharacteristically shocked. "Wow," he said as he shook his cards and laughed at his own misfortune.
"Peter, I mean he called off 600 dimes – it's not that surprising," Schulman pointed out.
"That happened fast," Benza said.
With the biggest pot in High Stakes Poker history on the line, the first river came down the 
– improving Wang, but not in the way he needed – and the second brought in the 
to send the entire $1,412,500 pot Keating's way.
High Stakes Poker airs Monday evenings at 8:00pm ET, exclusively on PokerGO.
Images Courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
