This week, new episodes “Poker After Dark: The Cash Game” began airing on NBC nightly at 2:05am ET. The six players at the table bought in for over $1 million combined and the blinds held steady at $300/$600 with an ante of $100. Monday’s kickoff episode featured a flurry of activity, including one pot worth over $400,000.
The action started off fast and furious. Just a few hands into the episode, Tom “durrrr” Dwan straddled to $1,200 and record executive Alan Meltzer min-raised to $2,400 with a wired pair of tens. Not content to call, Dwan peeked down at K-Q, including the king of hearts, and raised it up to $8,000. Meltzer 5bet to $24,400 with his pocket pair and Dwan called behind.
The flop was one for the ages, as the dealer spread Q-J-9, all hearts, across the middle of the table. Holding top pair and a flush draw, Dwan checked and, with a pair of tens and flush and straight draws, Meltzer bet $28,000. Dwan looked at his cards one more time and pushed all-in for $181,000. His opponent, after much deliberation, called all-in to create a $412,900 pot.
Dwan asked Meltzer how many times he wanted to run the turn and river and Meltzer said just once. The decision paid off, as a king on the turn gave Meltzer a king-high straight. The river was the eight of clubs and Meltzer scooped the $400,000+ pot much to Dwan’s dismay. “Durrrr” received a $100,000 reload from Patrik Antonius and the action continued.
I’ll let you catch your breath after that hand, which set the tone for the table. Now stuck $200,000, Dwan furiously worked to recoup his losses. He’d later tangle with “High Stakes Poker” host Gabe Kaplan in a hand where Kaplan raised to $2,800 pre-flop with 9-6 of hearts and Dwan 3bet to $10,300 with just 3-2 of spades. Kaplan defended and the flop came 7-3-A, giving Dwan bottom pair and missing Kaplan entirely.
Dwan fired out a bet of $14,300 and, not content to be pushed around, Kaplan raised to $38,000 with just nine-high. Dwan called behind and the turn was another ace. Both players checked and the river came a deuce. Dwan checked once more, Kaplan reached for two bricks of cash worth $50,000, and Dwan remarked that Kaplan took a “weird line” in the hand. After tanking for about a minute, Dwan got out of the way and Kaplan showed him the well-executed bluff. The pot was worth $148,00, the second largest of Monday night’s episode.
Did we mention that Antonius was at the table? The “sleeping giant,” as his tablemates affectionately dubbed him, remained quiet throughout the first three-quarters of the kickoff episode, but then came alive. Eli Elezra called pre-flop with A-9 and Antonius popped the price of poker to $3,700 with J-10. Elezra called and the flop of J-5-5 hit Antonius hard. Elezra check-called a bet of $5,000 from the Finnish player and the turn was a four.
Both players elected to slow down and check the turn to see a six hit on the river. Elezra checked, Antonius bet $13,000, and Elezra called behind with just ace-high. The dealer shipped $44,000 to Antonius, who won his very first pot played on the new week of “Poker After Dark.”
We were quite entertained by the cash game format on “Poker After Dark” and are confident that you’ll be too. Catch “Poker After Dark: The Cash Game” nightly at 2:05am ET on NBC this week and next week.
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