Veteran high-stakes pro Tom Dwan earned a place in poker history during Tuesday night's edition of Hustler Casino Live's "Million Dollar Game" by winning the largest known pot in televised-poker history, worth $3,081,000.
Dwan, famously known as "durrrr" from his years as one of online poker's legendary pros, took down the record pot after correctly calling a river bluff from "Wes Side" Wesley Fei for $786,000, equal to Dwan's entire remaining stack. The jam by Fei and call by Dwan, following a several-minutes-long Dwan tank, came after considerable betting on previous streets in the NLH cash game as well, thus producing the record-breaking pot.
The record hand began with the stakes at $500/$1,000 with an extra $3,000 ante from the big blind. After multiple calls and a raise to $7,000 from the hijack, Fei three-bet to $30,000 from the button with Ad-Kh. Dwan, the initial caller from under the gun, held Qc-Qs and re-raised to $100,000. Fei called while the other players folded, and the two saw a 3d-8s-8d flop.
Dwan checked that flop. Fei then bet $125,000, and Dwan called the bet. The turn was the 5h, and the same betting action took place. This time Fei bet $350,000, and again Dwan check-called.
The river brought another small card, the 6c, and Dwan checked once more. Fei began the night with the deepst stack and had plenty of chips to cover Dwan's remaining $786,000 stack, and after some thought, he pushed out enough chips to force Dwan into an all-in choice. The situation had an extra wrinkle in that after making his initial pre-flop bet, and a subsequent fold from small-blind player Doug Polk, Fei showed his hand to Polk, and Polk remained at the table through the hand, which eventually stretched for more than 15 minutes. The situation gave Dwan the possibility of picking up a tell from Polk as well as from Fei, though barring additional comment on the hand from Dwan, how he reasoned out the call remains conjecture.
The record hand came on the fourth nightly edition of HCL's "Million Dollar Game" and came two nights after the third special edition of the show, with an off day in between. Besides Dwan, Fei, and Polk, the special stream included several other famous and well-to-do poker figures, including elite sports bettor Haralabos "Bob" Voulgaris and Rob Yong of partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn fame.
The record pot wasn't the only huge hand that went Dwan's way during the show. At the time of publication, he was up more than $2 million, which may well be another record for a live-streamed cash game.
Featured image source: Hustler Casino Live
