Stakes Go Up & Stacks Get Deeper on New Episode of High Stakes Poker
4 minutes
Last Updated: April 6, 2022
The whole new episode of High Stakes Poker saw players taking action to a new level. Blinds were increased to $500/$1,000, and everyone bought in for at least $250,000, creating the potential for some big pots.
The lineup saw few changes as well, with Doyle Brunson, Patrik Antonius, and Xuan Liu leaving the game for the time being.
Filling one of the vacant spots was Bryn Kenney, who made his first appearance on this season of High Stakes Poker. Phil Ivey, JRB, and Daniel Negreanu also jumped back into the mix.
The remaining four seats were filled by Garrett Adelstein, Jen Tilly, Krish Menon, and Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan, so the stage was set for the fireworks.
JRB Gets Greedy
It took a few hands for the action to really get underway. The first major pot took place between JRB and Jennifer Tilly, two of the most active players at the table.
Jean-Robert called Garrett’s $3,000 open with pocket fives, and Tilly followed suit, defending her big blind with A♠8♣.
The three saw the flop of A♥6♠5♠, giving Jen a top pair, which was miles behind JRB’s bottom set.
After action checked to him, Bellande fired out for $4,000, which got rid of Adelstein, but Tilly made the call, going to the Q♥ turn.
Jen check-called once again, and this time around, JRB’s asking price was $15,000. This brought the pot up to $48,500.
The K♣ on the river brought in some backdoor options, but this didn’t deter Bellande, who decided to go for the maximum value, betting out for $51,000.
Player images courtesy of PokerGO
Given the fact the most obvious draws from the flop missed, Tilly entertained the possibility of calling off but eventually decided against it and mucked her hand.
Former Survivor Participants Going at It
In addition to being well-known high-stakes pros, Garrett Adelstein and JRB have another thing in common. Both men participated in the popular show Survivor, and that was the main topic of the conversation throughout the session.
The two also got involved in one of the more interesting pots of the night.
JRB opened the action from an early position with A♥J♥, but his $3,000 raise clearly wasn’t big enough as he picked up four callers, including Garrett in the small blind with K♠J♣.
The flop came down J♦7♥3♣, and it looked like Adelstein could be in trouble as JRB had him out-kicked.
Garrett started the action, firing an $8,000 bet into the field. This was enough to get rid of everyone but JRB, who made the call.
What started as a potentially troublesome hand for Garrett turned into a miracle one as the dealer burned and turned K♦.
With his hand improved to top two pair, Adelstein checked his action to Jean-Robert, who, after some deliberation, bet out for $25,000.
Garrett decided this was the right moment to spring his trap as he check-raised to $85,000, putting JRB to a real test.
Bellande was clearly confused as he had trouble putting Garrett on a hand. Still, after some thinking, he figured this wasn’t the hand he wanted to make his stand on and released his card.
Garrett vs. JRB – Round 2
While JRB managed to find a fold and avoid a disaster in the previous hand, it was clearly destined for the two to play a big pot.
Garrett opened the action, making it $4,000 to go with K♠10♠ over Krish Menon’s limp. Dwan made a call with pocket eights, JRB put his $4,000 in with Q♣J♠, and Menon closed the action with his pair of sailboats.
The flop came an interesting one – J♣9♦7♣, giving Garrett a double-gutter and JRB a top pair. Adelstein fired a continuation bet for $9,000, and this was called by both Tom and Jean-Robert Bellande.
The turn was the absolute action card as it came Q♠, giving Garrett the absolute nuts and improving JRB to the top two pair.
Adelstein bet out once again, this time for $20,000, which was too rich for Tom’s blood. Bellande, on the other hand, could not get away from this one as he made the call.
The absolute blank on the river, 3♥, changed absolutely nothing. Garrett took some time before coming up with a massive bet of $125,000 into the $85K pot.
Given how the hand played out, there wasn’t much Jean-Robert could do, so he pretty much snap-called Adelstein’s bet, only to be shown bad news. Garrett tabled the nuts and dragged in the $335,500 pot, by far the biggest one of the session.
Bryn Wins a Nice One
Bryn Kenney’s appearance on High Stakes Poker was a quiet one for the most part. He didn’t get involved in too many pots, but he managed to win a nice one against Garrett to wrap up the session.
Kenney called JRB’s $2,500 with Q♥4♥ in the cutoff, which brought in Tilly and Adelstein with 6♣5♣.
The flop of Q♣5♦2♥ gave Bryn a top pair, and he called JRB’s continuation bet of $6,000. Garrett did the same with his middle pair.
The turn of 4♦ improved Kenney’s hand to two pair. JRB (with pocket treys) was done betting, though, and after he checked, Bryn checked as well, going to the 10♠ river.
Adelstein figured no one was too interested in the pot, so he decided to try and take it, betting out for $40,000 into the $29,000 pot.
Bryn Kenney, who severely under-represented his hand, made a quick call, earning himself a nice $109,000 pot to wrap up the evening.
The stacks are getting deeper, and the action is getting bigger on High Stakes Poker. As things look like now, we might see a seven-figure pot or two before everything is said and done!