This is not an April Fool’s joke. I repeat: this is not an April Fool’s Joke (for starters, it would have to be funny). On Monday’s episode of High Stakes Poker, Alan Keating, known for the massive cash game pots in which he gets involved, scooped a $1,412,500 pot, setting a new record for the popular poker show.
Keating’s unfortunate victim was Peter Wang, though anyone who can afford to be on High Stakes Poker can’t be that unfortunate, am I right? It was a double-straddled pot pre-flop and Keating played it slowly, calling $4,000 with K♦-K♣ on the button. Wang took it up to $14,000 from the big blind with A♠-3♠, Keating three-bet it to $69,000, and Wang finally called to bring on the flop.
That flop was a doozy: 2♠-J♠-K♥, putting Keating firmly in the lead with top set, but Wang still had an Ace plus the nut flush draw. A bunch more money went into the middle, as Keating led with a $70,000 bet, Wang check-raised to $200,000, and Keating called.
Keating couldn’t call fast enough
The A♦ turn might have been Wang’s undoing, as it now gave him an actual made hand in addition to his flush draw. He couldn’t move all-in for $434,000 fast enough and Keating couldn’t call fast enough. Before he revealed his Kings, Keating asked Wang if he wanted to run it twice and Wang agreed.
Wang couldn’t believe it when he saw the damage, though he smiled and chuckled, knowing this was poker and he just stepped in it. Neither river card was any help to Wang – they actually both gave his opponent a better hand – and the $1.4m pot was Keating’s.
The old High Stakes Poker record was owned by Santhosh Suvarna, who won $992,000 in a single hand last year.
