Cooler River Card on High Stakes Poker Between $1 Million+ Stacks

Brandon Adams and Andrew Robl each had well over $1 million on the table during the eighth episode of High Stakes Poker Season 12, and the deck would align for those two high rollers to play a monster pot.

The same episode, which aired on PokerGO Monday night, also featured the always up-and-down Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot going on a roller coaster ride. He started off bluffing away a bunch before regrouping to win some big hands. Justin Gavri, Charles Yu, Stanley Tang, and Santhosh Suvarna also appeared in what was quite the entertaining $1,000/$2,000 no-limit hold’em cash game.

Gavri Has a Flush and Gets Action

The show began with a juicy hand, and one of the unluckiest players in High Stakes Poker memory was the beneficiary.

Preflop action started with Suvarna putting in a $4,000 straddle. Gavri opened to $10,000 with K♥9♥. Suvarna, with A♥J♦, was the only caller. The flop came out 2♥4♥5♣, creating a flush draw for one player and a straight draw for the other.

Following a check, Gavri bet $11,000 with his flush draw and received a call. When the 10♥ on the turn completed the flush, action again checked to the in-position player, who wagered $30,000 this time.

Suvarna picked up the nut flush draw on the turn, and went for a check-raise to $85,000, which of course wasn’t going to force the king-high flush to fold. After a call was made, the Q♦ on the river ensured the pot would be shipped in Gavri’s direction, a rare sight during Season 12. Suvarna gave up and folded to a bet.

Hustler Casino Live Regs Tangle

Nik Airball and Charles Yu, both regulars on Hustler Casino Live played one of the biggest and most interesting hands of the episode.

Yu straddled to $4,000 with K♠Q♠, and action folded around to Airball in the big blind with Q♣4♥, which he raised to $20,000, not enough to entice a fold from the straddle.

The flop showed K♣6♦8♣, not much for Airball other than a backdoor flush draw. But he continued telling the story of a big hand, so he fired out a continuation bet of $15,000, and Yu, with top pair and a quality kicker, had no reason to fold.

After the 3♣ turned over on fourth street, Airball picked up some equity, and he bet $50,000, again receiving a call. But the 10♦ on the river improved neither hand. Would Airball fire one more barrel with queen-high? The answer is yes, as he tossed in $202,000 worth of chips, enough to put his opponent all in. Yu took little time to make the call, and shipped the $577,000 pot. Updated chip stacks were then shown on the PokerGO screen, and they were as follows:

Shortly after, Airball would lose another sizable pot to Yu when he ran top pair into trips, but the tides began to turn around for him when he made a $220,000 wager with ace-high on the river and convinced Tang to fold pocket jacks for a pot just south of $400,000.

Seven-Figure Stacks Battle After Cooler River

Adams and Robl were the only two players sitting on more than $1 million. And the perfect hand viewers were looking for occurred.

Preflop action kicked off with Adams raising to $5,000 with 8♦7♦, and then Robl, seated in the big blind, three-betting to $40,000 with K♥Q♥. Adams made the call to the 4♠9♠5♣ flop, not exactly what either player was hoping would come, so they both checked.

The 10♣ on the turn made for a couple of draws, but they again checked. When the J♥ on the river gave both players a straight, blood became inevitable given the stack sizes. Robl, with the nuts, slowplayed his hand and checked.

Adams, who rivered an inferior straight, bet $70,000. The trap worked perfectly for Robl, and he came with a check-raise to $350,000. There wouldn’t be a raise on top, but Adams did call off the bet before finding out the bad news that he’d lost a $783,000 pot. Robl’s stack had cracked the $2.8 million mark.

Airball Gets Action with Aces

There are few better feelings in poker than when an opponent four bets into your pocket aces. That situation arose for Nik Airball late during Episode 8.

Gavri opened to $5,000 with A♦K♦ before Airball popped it to $30,000 with A♠A♣ from the small blind. Big Slick then came with a four-bet to $85,000, music to Airball’s ears. He decided against slowplaying his hand, and instead put his opponent all in for $313,000.

There would be no folding ace-king as Gavri made the call. Both players agreed to run it twice, and both boards were clean for the pocket aces, which sent the entire $640,000 pot over the Nik Airball’s stack, while Gavri left the game.

On the following hand, the Hustler Casino Live regular’s comeback would be complete when he rivered a flush to crack Yu’s top two pair for a $304,000 pot after betting $105,000, and receiving a call, on the river. Yu would close out the episode with a great bluff with ace-high against Robl for a big pot.

Past High Stakes Poker Season 12 Episode Recaps

You can catch the full episode on PokerGO and future episodes, which air each Monday at 5 p.m. PT.

_{*Images courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego}