Over the last fifteen years, High Stakes Poker and other TV poker shows have accustomed us to players exchanging fortunes over the poker tables. The recent surge of popularity of various YouTube and Twitch streams sets the bar higher, bringing even bigger high-stakes action to poker fans almost daily.
And poker aficionados have all of the reasons to be excited as the streamed games are getting bigger and bigger. The pinnacle of that trend was reached on the 31st of May 2023 when the biggest pot in televised poker history occurred.
Meet the actors: Tom Dwan and Wesley Fei
Tom Dwan is a poker player that shouldn’t require an introduction, but in case you’re not familiar with “Durrrr”, check out our recent article about him. Tom has a long and rich story of playing the highest stakes in cash games for over fifteen years.
Wesley Fei, on the other hand, is a mysterious figure, and not much can be told about him. What’s for sure is that this self-proclaimed crypto millionaire does not shy away from action.
The stage: Hustler Casino
This LA-located casino has been quite successful with its poker streams in recent months, which are straightforwardly named “Hustler Casino Live”. The hand that amazed the poker enthusiast worldwide was played on a $500/$1000 with a $3000 Big Blind ante, easily positioning this game among the highest stakes ever televised.
Let’s take a closer look at this huge pot from the preflop.
The action started with the HJ (LSG Hank) opening to $7k with the A8o, quickly followed by Wesley’s 3bet to $30k with AKo on the button. Both small blind and big blind folded, and Tom Dwan picked up pocket Queens on the straddle. After some deliberation, Tom set the price with a four-bet to a hefty $100k. That was not enough for Wesley, who pumped it up to $275k with a 5bet.
Tom, probably not willing to play for stacks being that deep with his queens, decided to take it to a flop.
Flop: A massive pot of $562k
The flop was unlikely to change the strength of anyone’s hand – 883 with a flush draw. As is usually the case in such situations, Tom checked to the aggressor. Having two overcards to the board, Wesley continued with a $125k continuation bet. Tom called relatively quickly; after all, he had hit a very good flop for his hand.
The turn was an offsuit five, a somewhat meaningless card. After Tom’s check, Fei again bet, this time for over one-third of the pot – $350k. Being visibly not thrilled, Dwan called, and the hand went to the river.
A poker history in the making: A $786k river shove
The last card to hit the board was an offsuit 6. Dwan checked for the third time, and Wesley continued his story and put Tom Dwan all-in for effectively $786k. After a few minutes of going back and forth with his train of thought, Tom finally decided to call and saw great news, winning the largest pot in televised poker history.
Wesley’s hands might have been shaky, but he went with his gut
Such big pots (big blinds-wise) are not rare in cash games, but given how much money was at stake, the hand is undoubtedly unique. There is also a tiny detail worth mentioning: Wesley exposed his hand preflop to Doug Polk, which might later convince Tom Dwan that it’s less likely he was against pocket aces and, at the same time, made AK more likely.
Theory-wise, both Tom and Wesley played their hand well. While AK may not be the absolute best hand to be bluffing with, the reality shows that Wesley was very close to pulling out one of the most impressive bluffs in history, forcing Tom to fold one of the best hands he could possibly have – with just an ace high.
Going back to Tom, having QQ, which is likely the strongest (or the second strongest) overpair he could have, it feels like he had to call, but the prospect of calling 768BB river shove with just one pair (and essentially a bluff catcher) is far from exciting. Given his post-hand insight, it’s possible that Wesley’s preflop carelessness convinced Tom to call.
Would he choose to fold otherwise? We’ll never know. If you want to assess the circumstances yourself, you can watch the hand here:
High-stakes poker keeps people excited
A few years ago, names like Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey or Patrik Antonius guaranteed poker excitement. Admittedly, all three are still playing, but we are seeing more and more new names in action, which bodes well for live poker worldwide.
Would you like to play in such a high-stakes cash game someday? It will be challenging, but you have to start somewhere, and joining Smart Spin is the best way to kickstart your poker career.
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