On Monday evening, the latest episode of High Stakes Poker hit the airwaves with the same lineup of players involved. Justin Gavri, Rick Salomon, Alan Keating, Nik 'Airball' Arcot, Vinny Lingham, and Peter Wang all returned to battle and were ready for another big-money clash.
Keating and Wang set the record for the largest-ever pot in High Stakes Poker history last week — with the former coming away as the winner — and their on-felt rivalry continued to drive the action this episode. With over $4 million in play at the table, the fuse was lit and it was only a matter of time.
Another seven-figure sweat
With the $2,000 straddle in play, Salomon opened the action with a raise to $10,000 holding 
. Keating came along from the button with 
, as did Wang with 
. On the 
flop, all three players connected — Salomon with a flush draw, Keating with top pair, and Wang with two pair.
Salomon continued on the flop for $15,000 and Keating wasted no time in matching the wager. Wang, however, wanted to play for more and raised to $75,000. It took Salomon all of five seconds to call the raise, but Keating took his time to think through his options before eventually coming to the same conclusion.
With $258,500 in the middle, all three players continued to the 
turn. While Salomon added a pair to his flush draw, Wang still held the best hand with his two pair. After thinking for a moment, Wang moved a stack of chips across the betting line and verbally announced his all-in shove for $452,000 — a massive overbet. Salomon fled the scene without any hesitation, but Keating wasn't ready to throw his cards into the muck just yet.
'I have a chance'
"This is a tough one," Keating muttered to himself as he thought through his decision, all the while keeping an eye on Wang's mannerisms.
Eventually, Keating decided to go with his hand and moved a stack of chips across the betting line. "The rivalry continues," he said as he made the call — bringing the pot to an eye-watering $1,161,500. With seven figures in the middle, both players agreed to run two river cards.
Before the hands were revealed to all, Wang flashed his cards to Arcot – prompting Keating to ask, "Do I have a chance?"
"He has two pair," came the reply from Arcot.
"I have a chance. I have a queen," Keating countered.
When Wang threw down his cards to reveal that he too had a queen — and a five to go along with it — Keating realized he was in rough shape, but remained confident.
"Oh, god," he said. "I might scoop this, though."
As the dealer readied the pot, Keating continued, "Yeah, just go ahead and throw the seven or eight out."
On the first river, the dealer did exactly that as the 
came in to counterfeit Wang's two pair and leave Keating with the best hand as he improved to queens and eights with a ten kicker.
As they awaited the second river card, Keating repeated himself — "The rivalry continues," — before silence descended over the table. With a million-dollar pot on the line, the dealer put out the 
to keep Wang's hand best on the second runout. When he saw the second river come down in his favor, Wang threw his hands into the air and let out a laugh – effectively cutting through the tension at the table as the other players joined in.
"What's one million dollars between friends?" asked AJ Benza from the commentary booth.
High Stakes Poker airs Monday evenings at 8:00pm ET, exclusively on PokerGO.
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
