Just as we’ve predicted, things have started to really heat up at the High Stakes Poker. With the current lineup running out of time, players are looking to get unstuck or run their stacks up, resulting in some big pots.
On the latest episode, Antonio Esfandiari found himself on the right side of variance, amassing over $500,000 in his stack. Of course, this came at the expense of other players, including Jen Tilly, who’s not been catching many breaks this season.
It was an action-packed affair, to be sure, and if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a quick overview of the biggest and most interesting hands.
“The Magician” & Tilly Bump Heads
The first major pot of the latest episode saw Jen Tilly going up against her friend and poker nemesis, Antonio Esfandiari. Tilly has been trying to win a big one against Antonio for a few sessions now, but the poker gods haven’t favored her thus far.
It was no different this time around, as she ended up flopping a set of deuces against “The Magician’s” set of jacks.
Not surprisingly, all the money found its way into the middle by the turn when Jen got the bad news that she was drawing to one out. That single out didn’t materialize on the river, and she was felted while Antonio picked up a pot of over $300k to kick the night off.
One for Sanchez
Robert Sanchez hasn’t been the most active player in this lineup, but he’s shown a few times that, when it came to it, he wasn’t afraid to put his chips to work.
With Jennifer Tilly posting a $1,000 straddle, Sanchez decided to just limp in with his Q♥Q♣. Perkins, holding two black nines, bumped it up to $4,000. Sippl joined the fun with 7♥7♣, as did Jen with A♣3♣.
The action then got back to Sanchez, and although this was the perfect squeeze spot, he decided to keep slow-playing his hand, just calling once again.
So, it was four players to the flop, which came J♠J♦8♦, and the action checked through. On the turn 5♠, everyone checked to Sippl on the button, who decided to test the waters with a $12,000 bet.
Both Sanchez and Perkins made the call, ballooning the pot to $53,000 and going to the river of J♥.
If Sanchez had any doubts about his queens being good, the third jack got rid of those, and he proceeded to lead out for $20,000. Perkins quickly made the call, Sippl got out, and just like that, Sanchez dragged in $93,000 for a hefty profit of almost $60,000 on the hand.
Bad Timing for Bill Perkins
Things didn’t quite go right for Tilly so far, but she did manage to pick up a nice pot towards the end of the last episode, courtesy of Bill Perkins getting too ambitious at the wrong time.
It was another multi-way hand, with four players to the flop and $17,000 in the middle to kick things off. The flop came A♠J♥9♥, improving everybody.
Sanchez held A♥10♥ for a top pair and the nut flush draw. Sippl had the same hand but no flush option. Perkins with A♦6♦ had the worst top pair, while Tilly’s 10♣8♦ gave her an open-ended straight draw.
Sanchez decided to take over the initiative, betting $4,000 into the field. This didn’t do much but increase the size of the pot, as all three players called.
The turn came 7♠, completing Jen’s straight draw and giving her the nuts. When the action checked to Sanchez, he decided to keep betting, firing out $12,000 this time.
It was at this moment that Perky decided to throw caution to the wind and made an unorthodox raise to $40,000. This got rid of Sippl, but it was music to Tilly’s ears. She wasted no time moving all in for a total of $122,000.
This put Sanchez in a tricky spot as he was still drawing to the nuts, but he thought better of it and made a correct laydown. Perkins, caught with his hand in a cookie jar, could do nothing else but fold as well, and Jen finally raked in a nice pot of almost $85,000.
If what we saw in the last episode is any indicator, the final show with this lineup could get pretty crazy. Antonio is up, but he’s not one to lock up his profits. Jen is ready to play her heart out and win some of her money back, and Perkins is, well, Perkins, so things could get quite crazy.
