Season 12 of "Poker After Dark" on PokerGO put controversial social media star Dan Bilzerian in center stage last week for the first episode of "Blitz Week" against a crew of mainly recreational players.
That continued on Monday's episode, part two of the series. Near the end of the last episode, they kicked the stakes up a hair from $50/$100 to $100/$100 while keeping the $500 big blind ante in there as well. The minimum buy-in was $20,000. After a hot first session, Bilzerian had a stack that covered all of his opponents, about $65K.
Action heated up quite a bit compared to the last episode with several huge all-in pots.
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Big Bluff-Catch from Eubank Jr.
Two raggedy limps and a check happened in front of pro boxer Chris Eubank Jr., who looked down at q♣️
Eubank Jr. showed his neighbors his cards and everyone watched an 8♠️6♥️9♦️ flop arrive. Eubank Jr. continued for $1,300 and Aoki popped it to $4,000. Eubank Jr. went nowhere and they checked a 2♣️, with a 2♥️ completing the board. Eubank Jr. checked and Aoki made a pot-sized wager of $10,000.
That was more than half of Eubank Jr.'s remaining stack and he thought awhile then tossed in a chip.
"I bluffed," Aoki admitted with a laugh as he slapped down his cards. "I missed."
Eubank Jr. grinned and showed down to scoop the $30,400 pot.
$78K Pot Between Bilzerian and Perkins
Bill Perkins opened for $400 second to act with q♥️10♥️ and received multi-way action as he was called by Aoki with 9♠️6♥️ on his left, Bilzerian with 4♠️4♣️ on the button and Lara Sebastian with an unknown hand containing the k♥️ in the big blind.
Both Perkins and Bilzerian flopped big on 4♥️j♥️10♠️ and they didn't waste much time getting stacks in. It went $700 from Perkins, $2,200 from Bilzerian, $10,000 from Perkins, and a shove from Bilzerian. Perkins snap-called for about $37K.
They agreed to run twice. Perkins said he would take a straight on the first run. He got off to a nice start with the k♣️ turn. The 3♠️ dashed those dreams, though.
Less promising was the 7♣️ that kicked off the second run but it was followed by a 9♥️ river that gave Perkins his money back.
Eubank Jr. Lets Bilzerian Off the Hook Cheap
Mally Mall limped under the gun with 6♥️6♠️ and Bilzerian made it $600 with q♦️j♥️ in the next seat. Eubank Jr. looked down at the nuts, a♠️a♥️, and reraised to $2,000 from Bilzerian's left. Both newcomer Alan Richardson with 10♥️10♣️ in the big blind — he'd taken Aoki's old seat aftert he DJ busted — and Mally Mall stuck around, as did Bilzerian.
Thus, they went to a 4♣️5♠️q♣️ flop four ways. Mally Mall led out small for $500, Bilzerian called, and Eubank Jr. raised to $3,000. Only Bilzerian wanted to keep playing and he check-called $4,500 on the 9♦️. The river was an 8♥️.
Eubank Jr. had a pot-sized bet left to play, about $24K.
"That snap-call really has messed with my head, Dan," he said after thinking a bit, referencing Bilzerian's quick turn play. "I can't believe I'm gonna do this, but I'm gonna check."
Bilzerian showed and a disgusted Eubank Jr. didn't hide the fact that he was irritated he'd missed out on river value.
Perkins and Richardson Play for Stacks
Perkins opened early for $500 with ♦️ak♦️ and Richardson three-bet on his left with q♦️q♣️ for $2,000. Action folded back to Perkins and he wasted little time before four-betting to $10,000.
"OK, I'm gonna give you a little action," Richardson said.
Perkins had $13,100 behind and that went in on the 2♦️4♠️7♦️. They agreed to run twice, and it was another chop on the final river as Richardson faded the first board with 2♠️, 6♥️ but saw Perkins hit the a♠️ on the second run after a brick 5♥️ turn.
Mally Mall Blasts on Final Hand
Anytime everyone agrees it's going to be the final hand of the night, things can get a little crazy as players try to get unstuck. Even high-stakes players on "Poker After Dark" are apparently not immune to this phenomenon as that's exactly what happened here.
Eubank Jr. called from early position with 9♥️3♣️, David Bell made it $700 with q♣️8♣️, Perkins reraised to $2,100 with ♦️a4♣️, and Richardson woke up with j♥️j♣️. He decided that was good enough for another raise to $6,000 and big blind Mally Mall called it cold. Bell called, as did Perkins.
That meant $24,600 was in the middle as they saw a a♣️6♥️6♦️ flop. Action checked to Perkins and he flicked in $5,000. Richardson reluctantly mucked, but Mally Mall counted out his stack of $17,000 and slid it all in. Bell folded, but Perkins was in no mood.
"I don't even care," he said, slapping in a stack of chips.
Mally Mall asked to run it three times and Perkins agreed. The sweat came on the first turn with the 9♦️. Mally Mall couldn't find another diamond as the 6♣️ hit, and he was dead on the turn in the second run. He got some hope again with the 4♦️ on the final runout but the river didn't help him.
The $58,600 Perkins scooped counted as the biggest of the session.
