Hustler Casino Live's Friday live-stream ran so long that McDonald's was almost done serving breakfast Saturday morning, and it wrapped with a memorable $650,000 four-way pot.
Not everyone at the table stuck around for the entire 15-hour session. Jean-Robert Bellande, who made his HCL debut on Thursday, left early but with an $800,000 profit, the largest winning session in HCL history, bringing his two-day winnings up to over $1 million. The self-proclaimed "broke" high roller can comfortably pay his bills for the next month or so now.
The table was stacked with entertaining characters who aren't afraid to gamble and have more money than the average poker player could even fathom. Wesley Fei, Mikki Mase, Alan Keating, and DoorDash founder Stanley Tang were all in the mix. Later on, the newest HCL celebrity, Ryusuke, made an appearance, his final one before flying back to Japan, and promptly proceeded to take $275,000 out of the poker economy on his way out of the country.
Keating Battles Hard
Keating, a wealthy investor who often plays in high-stakes private games, is always one of the loosest players on Hustler Casino Live when he competes. His VPIP (voluntarily put in pot) has declined over the past couple of sessions from its usual 80% or above level. But he still VPIP'ed at 57% over the 15-hour stream, the highest at the table.
It was an up-and-down day for Keating, who infamously lost $1.1 million in the MrBeast/Ninja game back in May. At one point, he was down around $700,000, but battled his way back up to profitability.
At the end of the session, he had a golden opportunity to go home with a massive win. We'll save the outcome of that hand for later, but there is one wild hand he played that we'll briefly touch on.
With 10♦️
JRB Gets Lucky Twice in One Hand
Bellande, a longtime poker player and former Survivor contestant, was up $1 million at one point during Friday's game. A big part of why he was able to build his stack was because of a hand he won early against Matthew "Hanks" Honig.
"JRB" jammed all in for $234,000 preflop with a♠️k♥️ and was snap-called by k♦️k♣️. With $469,000 in the middle, the players agreed to run it twice. The first run-out of 9♦️10♠️2♣️3♦️♦️a was favorable to Bellande, who spiked the ace on the river, ensuring he would at least chop the pot.
In the second run-out, it again appeared Hanks was on his way to victory when the board ran out 6♦️10♦️j♣️j♥️, but the river q♠️ gave JRB a straight, and he scooped the entire pot. Hanks finished the stream down $263,000, about the same amount as he lost in the aforementioned bad beat.
Epic Four-Way Pot to Close it Out
Every great show needs a proper ending, and the Friday/Saturday Hustler Casino Live stream certainly didn't disappoint in this area. After 15 hours of play, four players headed in opposite directions attempted to go home on a positive note — Ryusuke, Keating, Fei, and Mase.
Mase, who bought in for $400,000, was down nearly $300,000 entering the hand. Fei played tight throughout most of the session and was also down big. Ryusuke was up $400,000, while Keating had managed to battle back to nearly a $100,000 profit.
So, here's how it played out. Following a $35,000 straddle from Ryusuke, "Wes Side" Wesley jammed for $183,000 with 10♥️
That left a three-way pot of $653,000 as they headed to the flop, which was 10♦️2♣️6♦️, giving Fei top set. But the 3♦️ on the turn made things even more interesting as it gave Keating a flush draw. Mase also had a diamond but was drawing dead. The 4♣️ on the river was the ultimate brick.
With that lucky suck-out, Fei finished with a $108,000 profit instead of a huge loss. Keating, instead of booking a six-figure win, ended the stream down $95,000. Ryusuke, who put in a bunch of money without getting to see the flop, still left ahead $270,000 and only played for a few hours. Mase, for the second consecutive day, took a six-figure loss, this one for $403,000.
