26 May 09
High Stakes Poker: The Final Episode
Elezra misses a great opportunity to win a big pot, Dwan gets stunned by Doyle Brunson's play, bad luck strikes Minieri and Phil Laak wraps it all up by going broke in the final episode of the High Stakes Poker.
The 5th season of the High Stakes Poker came to an end with the final
episode offering plenty of action with numerous interesting hands. Even
Phil Laak decided to take the hood off and gamble a little bit, but
the one who usually loves to gamble, Eli Elezra, didn't do so this time
and it cost him a pot which could've been over $400,000 had he called.
Action in the final episode began with Alan Meltzer limping in with
, followed by Eli Elezra who held 
and Doyle Brunson with 
. Tom Dwan thought for a second, seeing there was four of them in the hand, and raised to $5,000 with his pocket fives.
Meltzer called and so did Elezra and Brunson (pictured right). The flop came 
,
Dwan checked, Meltzer bet $20,000, Elezra called and the action turned
to Brunson who fired a raise to $95,000. Dwan got out of the way and
Meltzer quickly decided to move all-in, raising the action to $172,800.
Elezra stood up, thought for a bit and raised his hand towards the center of the table, as if he was about to throw the chips down but then he pulled his hand back in the last moment and returned the chips to the safety of his stack.
Brunson made the call and Meltzer turned over his cards. Brunson commented "I can't beat it," revealing the same hand. Elezra wasn't too pleased with the situation and it only got worse when the
came on the turn and Elezra furiously commented, "Look at it!"
The
on the river just added a bit more salt on Elezra's wound, as he
watched the $387,600 pot being split between Brunson and Meltzer.
The last episode in the Season 5 went well for Peat, he made good moves and used every bit of luck he got in the best possible way. First, he grabbed a $69,000 pot from Elezra with a bluff on the turn which made Phil Laak curious enough to be willing to pay $5 just to see his hand.
Peat's good streak continued when he grabbed another nice pot with all the action going on pre-flop. Peat limped in with
, Meltzer did the same with 
and Baxter decided to stop the limping, as he looked down at 
and raised to $4,000.
Minieri (pictured left) decided to make a move and raised to $17,000 with 
.
Peat
wasn't too convinced by Minieri's raise and fired back a raise to
$60,800. Meltzer folded, followed by the original raiser, Baxter.
Minieri did a bit of acting, as if he was considering to call, and then
threw away his hand. Peat showed his hand to the table, just to make
sure nobody would think about fooling around with him.
While he did his best to appear strong as much as possible, Peat did more than a few bluffs throughout his appearance on High Stakes Poker. Most of the time his bluffs worked and even the deck favoured him a few times, such as the hand against Minieri in which the Italian pro held pocket aces, but a flopped set of tens gave Peat the best hand, which was a good result considering the fact he started the hand holding 10-5. This was also Minieri's last hand, as he packed his bags and walked out like a gentleman after it.
While Minieri showed a creative and bold play, Phil Laak (pictured right) didn't play much this season, though he did find time for
some small talks and side-bets. Ironically, just when Laak thought that
he would survive through Season 5 with minimum losses, a big clash occurred
between him and Elezra which put his whole stack on a string of hope
that luck would be on his side.
Action began with Elezra putting a $1,600 straddle, Laak raising to $4,600 and Elezra throwing in the extra $3,000 to make the call. The flop came
, a great flop for Elezra who held 
and immediately bet $8,000.
Phil Laak held
and decided to find out how good his straight draw was with a raise to
$24,000. He quickly got his answer in the form of a re-raise to $55,000
by Elezra. Laak was faced with a tough choice, either going all-in or
folding because a call would make matters even worse should he miss the
straight on the turn.
Eventually, he decided to move all-in for $128,000 and Elezra made the call. They agreed to run the board twice but it didn't help Laak. First time the board came 
and the second time it came 
, which sent the $269,600 pot to Elezra. Laak's stack went dry, but he quickly reached in his bag to buy in for another $250,000 and another chance to go broke, or perhaps win his money back.
The following hand offered an interesting encounter featuring the young gun Tom Dwan and the old school representative Doyle Brunson. Dwan started the hand with a $3,000 raise and four players decided to make the call.
The flop came
, Brunson checked, followed by Minieri and the action turned to Dwan who held 
decided to fire a $8,700 bullet into the pot. It scared away Baxter and
Elezra but Brunson wasn't going anywhere, as he made the call with 
.
Minieri folded and the action moved to the turn which brought. Brunson checked and Dwan bet $24,100 which Brunson called. The river came
and Brunson checked to Dwan again. Dwan fired a $47,800 bet and after
some consideration, Brunson made the call and surprised Dwan when he
showed trip aces to take down the $177,800 pot.
With the
end of the show dangerously close, Alan Meltzer received his
golden chance to win some money with pocket kings before everyone leave
the building.
The first hand with Meltzer holding pocket kings featured him going up against Tom Dwan (pictured left) who held
.
Pre-flop action saw Laak making a raise to $3,000, followed by a
re-raise to $9,2000 from Dwan and surprisingly, Meltzer just called,
while Laak mucked his hand.
Dwan tried to win the pot on the flop of
with a $20,300 bet, but Meltzer's 
was enough to give him the courage to make a raise to $75,300 and Dwan quickly folded away.
The following hand was also the last hand of the show and again it was Meltzer with pocket kings up against Dwan who was in a somewhat better situation this time, holding.
Dwan again led out with a raise to $14,00 and Meltzer decided to play
his pocket kings more aggressively now, making a re-raise to $30,000.
Peat folded and Dwan made the call.
The flop came
and Meltzer fired another $30,000 bullet at Dwan. After looking at his
opponent, Dwan figured it might be worthwile to stick around and made
the call. The turn brought , Meltzer checked, Dwan bet $46,200 and Meltzer called.
The river came to give Dwan a full house and seal the lead he already gained on the turn. Meltzer checked and Dwan took his time to figure out the best possible way to extract more money from this situation and the answer came in the form of going all-in for $146,800.
Meltzer decided to call and the last pot of the Season 5 worth $514,000 went to Dwan. Tom Dwan was down by roughly $100,000 at the beginning of this last episode, but this hand got his stack back to it's standard place, somewhere through the roof.
Season 5 offered great entertainment to its viewers, as the players have shown what poker is all about, great plays, great bluffs and even greater manners as likes of Dario Minieri have shown how to walk away after a bad beat. Hopefully the next season will be even better.
Action in the final episode began with Alan Meltzer limping in with
, followed by Eli Elezra who held and Doyle Brunson with . Tom Dwan thought for a second, seeing there was four of them in the hand, and raised to $5,000 with his pocket fives.Meltzer called and so did Elezra and Brunson (pictured right). The flop came ,
Dwan checked, Meltzer bet $20,000, Elezra called and the action turned
to Brunson who fired a raise to $95,000. Dwan got out of the way and
Meltzer quickly decided to move all-in, raising the action to $172,800.Elezra stood up, thought for a bit and raised his hand towards the center of the table, as if he was about to throw the chips down but then he pulled his hand back in the last moment and returned the chips to the safety of his stack.
Brunson made the call and Meltzer turned over his cards. Brunson commented "I can't beat it," revealing the same hand. Elezra wasn't too pleased with the situation and it only got worse when the
came on the turn and Elezra furiously commented, "Look at it!"The
on the river just added a bit more salt on Elezra's wound, as he
watched the $387,600 pot being split between Brunson and Meltzer.
peat bluffs into the night
David Peat has perhaps not been the most friendly character at the
table, but he has certainly demonstrated how to play against likes of
Dwan, Mineri or Elezra and come out of it alive, hopefully even with a
small profit.The last episode in the Season 5 went well for Peat, he made good moves and used every bit of luck he got in the best possible way. First, he grabbed a $69,000 pot from Elezra with a bluff on the turn which made Phil Laak curious enough to be willing to pay $5 just to see his hand.
Peat's good streak continued when he grabbed another nice pot with all the action going on pre-flop. Peat limped in with
, Meltzer did the same with and Baxter decided to stop the limping, as he looked down at and raised to $4,000.Minieri (pictured left) decided to make a move and raised to $17,000 with .
Peat
wasn't too convinced by Minieri's raise and fired back a raise to
$60,800. Meltzer folded, followed by the original raiser, Baxter.
Minieri did a bit of acting, as if he was considering to call, and then
threw away his hand. Peat showed his hand to the table, just to make
sure nobody would think about fooling around with him.While he did his best to appear strong as much as possible, Peat did more than a few bluffs throughout his appearance on High Stakes Poker. Most of the time his bluffs worked and even the deck favoured him a few times, such as the hand against Minieri in which the Italian pro held pocket aces, but a flopped set of tens gave Peat the best hand, which was a good result considering the fact he started the hand holding 10-5. This was also Minieri's last hand, as he packed his bags and walked out like a gentleman after it.
brunson shocks dwan
While Minieri showed a creative and bold play, Phil Laak (pictured right) didn't play much this season, though he did find time for
some small talks and side-bets. Ironically, just when Laak thought that
he would survive through Season 5 with minimum losses, a big clash occurred
between him and Elezra which put his whole stack on a string of hope
that luck would be on his side.Action began with Elezra putting a $1,600 straddle, Laak raising to $4,600 and Elezra throwing in the extra $3,000 to make the call. The flop came
, a great flop for Elezra who held and immediately bet $8,000.Phil Laak held
and decided to find out how good his straight draw was with a raise to
$24,000. He quickly got his answer in the form of a re-raise to $55,000
by Elezra. Laak was faced with a tough choice, either going all-in or
folding because a call would make matters even worse should he miss the
straight on the turn.Eventually, he decided to move all-in for $128,000 and Elezra made the call. They agreed to run the board twice but it didn't help Laak. First time the board came
and the second time it came , which sent the $269,600 pot to Elezra. Laak's stack went dry, but he quickly reached in his bag to buy in for another $250,000 and another chance to go broke, or perhaps win his money back.The following hand offered an interesting encounter featuring the young gun Tom Dwan and the old school representative Doyle Brunson. Dwan started the hand with a $3,000 raise and four players decided to make the call.
The flop came
, Brunson checked, followed by Minieri and the action turned to Dwan who held
decided to fire a $8,700 bullet into the pot. It scared away Baxter and
Elezra but Brunson wasn't going anywhere, as he made the call with .Minieri folded and the action moved to the turn which brought
. Brunson checked and Dwan bet $24,100 which Brunson called. The river came
and Brunson checked to Dwan again. Dwan fired a $47,800 bet and after
some consideration, Brunson made the call and surprised Dwan when he
showed trip aces to take down the $177,800 pot.
dwan versus pocket kings
With the
end of the show dangerously close, Alan Meltzer received his
golden chance to win some money with pocket kings before everyone leave
the building.The first hand with Meltzer holding pocket kings featured him going up against Tom Dwan (pictured left) who held
.
Pre-flop action saw Laak making a raise to $3,000, followed by a
re-raise to $9,2000 from Dwan and surprisingly, Meltzer just called,
while Laak mucked his hand.Dwan tried to win the pot on the flop of
with a $20,300 bet, but Meltzer's was enough to give him the courage to make a raise to $75,300 and Dwan quickly folded away.The following hand was also the last hand of the show and again it was Meltzer with pocket kings up against Dwan who was in a somewhat better situation this time, holding
.
Dwan again led out with a raise to $14,00 and Meltzer decided to play
his pocket kings more aggressively now, making a re-raise to $30,000.
Peat folded and Dwan made the call.The flop came
and Meltzer fired another $30,000 bullet at Dwan. After looking at his
opponent, Dwan figured it might be worthwile to stick around and made
the call. The turn brought , Meltzer checked, Dwan bet $46,200 and Meltzer called.The river came
to give Dwan a full house and seal the lead he already gained on the turn. Meltzer checked and Dwan took his time to figure out the best possible way to extract more money from this situation and the answer came in the form of going all-in for $146,800.Meltzer decided to call and the last pot of the Season 5 worth $514,000 went to Dwan. Tom Dwan was down by roughly $100,000 at the beginning of this last episode, but this hand got his stack back to it's standard place, somewhere through the roof.
Season 5 offered great entertainment to its viewers, as the players have shown what poker is all about, great plays, great bluffs and even greater manners as likes of Dario Minieri have shown how to walk away after a bad beat. Hopefully the next season will be even better.
Links
Related news:
- High Stakes Poker: 5th Season Premiere
- High Stakes Poker: "Math Is Idiotic"
- High Stakes Poker: Revenge Is Sweet
- High Stakes Poker: durrrr Enters The Building
- High Stakes Poker: Negreanu Falls Again
- High Stakes Poker: Elezra Takes On Dwan
- High Stakes Poker: Minieri Takes The Charge
#1
TheLastNail, 26 May 09 21:52
Laak is playing incredibly weak imo in recent times.. both in PAD & HSP /hes prolly the biggest fish at HSP together with silent Mike in the last group/, I am amazed how he actually gets to still have such a prestigious name.. :? Durrrr ftw!#2
Dendra, 26 May 09 22:40
i have to agree he really made "some" bad plays. after watching this season of hsp i wondered where does he get all that money from? certainly not poker tables :D#3
mishkagg, 27 May 09 08:58
I hate that fat fuck and I glad he lost the last hand. Hope to see the next season too!#4
2weiX, 27 May 09 11:47
don't forget GABE KAPLAN!he's hilarious.
"ITS A FIIIIIIVE!!!"
"the suited-connectors-gods"
"postflop traumatic disorder"
ooh man. now, just who is AJ Benza?^^
#5
vhallee, 27 May 09 12:03
gabe kaplan is a god among men. i just love his commentaries, he's simply amazing!