The big-money action continued on PokerGO’s High Stakes Poker with a major cooler for a pot of more than $500,000 as the ninth season continues playing out.
With blinds at $500-$1,000 and a $1,000 big blind, Sameh Elamawy raised to $3,000 with K Q and received a call from Humboldt Mike with A K. Jennifer Tilly also called with 9 8, as did Nikhil ‘Airball’ Arcott holding A Q and Brandon Steven with 5 2, bringing the pot to $17,500.
The flop brought some real fireworks, coming down K Q Q. Elamawy had flopped a full house, Mike hit top pair, top kicker, and Arcott had three queens.
Elamawy checked the action, as did Mike and Tilly before Arcott bet $5,000. Steven and Tilly both folded and Elamawy and Mike both called. At this point, Elamawy had about $349,000 behind, Mike had $417,000, and Airball had $482,000.
When looking at the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, Elamawy was an 89% favorite to win the hand with Airball at 9%, needing one of the three remaining aces to hit the board. Mike had just a 3% shot at the pot needing the case king.
The 6 came on the turn and Elamawy checked. Mike also checked and Arcott fired $21,000. Elamawy checked his cards for a few seconds as he considered his options, eventually deciding to just call. Mike did the same, bringing the pot to $95,500.
A blank 4 came on the river and Elamawy bet $25,000, looking to induce a raise. Mike made a nice fold and Arcott took some time before making it $100,000 to go. Elamawy chuckled at the raise before finally announcing all in for his last $328,000 – bringing the pot to $523,000.
“That sounds like kings full,” Arcott said as he looked a bit disgusted at the massive raise and how things played out.
Arcott continued counting his chips and was perhaps leaning towards a call, but Elamawy opted to show him the king in his hand.
“The story makes sense, I just don’t know if I can fold,” Arcott said.
After more thought and some discussion, he ultimately folded – saving himself quite a pile of cash in the process.
Elamawy, the CEO of Scratch Loan Services, has now appeared on the show several times and has an overall profit of about $94,000 in streamed cash games, according to HighRollpoker.com.
Arcott has become a frequent player on High Stakes Poker as well as games like Hustler Casino Live, Poker at the Lodge, No Gamble No Future, and others. After a tough run in these high-stakes cash games over the last year, things have picked up in 2024 and he’s now up more than $500,000.
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*Photos by PokerGO – Antonio Abrego