Poker at the Lodge’s Friday evening livestream, which was still running at the time of publishing, has featured a plethora of monster pots. But one hand, involving Doug Polk and Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot, turned into one of the biggest pots in the show’s history.
The high-stakes game at The Lodge Card Club near Austin, Texas ran for three hours before the two aforementioned high rollers and another player — Tesla — battled for a pot that nearly hit $500,000.
Crazy Game of Poker
The hand began with Muscle Mike limping from the hijack for $200 with K♥3♥. Airball then raised from the cutoff to $1,000 with 8♠6♠. Polk, in the small blind, made it $4,500 to go with a real hand — A♣K♣. Tesla, a popular player on the show, called with 10♥8♥ from the big blind, as did the two other players already in the pot.
After the flop showed 3♣8♦6♣, things got spicy. Action checked to Airball, who tossed out a $10,000 wager with top two pair. Polk called with a flush draw, while Tesla moved all in for $110,675, the smallest stack in the hand. Mike didn’t flop anything, so he folded. But Airball quickly moved all in with the largest stack.
Polk then had a tough decision to make with $170,000 behind. He went into a lengthy tank.
“I might just be priced in on this,” Polk told his opponents while pondering his move. The co-owner of the Texas card room would eventually make the call, creating a pot of $487,985, and he wasn’t in awful shape with about 35% equity.
Tesla was in horrible shape with only a 10% chance of winning the pot. He needed a non-club 10 to take it down. The turn was the uneventful 3♦, followed by the J♠ on the river, sending the pot in Airball’s direction. He’d been down a chunk the entire session and moved well into the black, up about $186,000 following the hand.
Polk started with $75,000 and would add on another $100,000 after the flush draw didn’t come through, while Tesla rebought for $150,000. You can watch the full livestream, which was still going strong at the time of publishing, below.
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