Last week, Poker After Dark on NBC showcased what they referred to as the toughest cash-game lineup ever assembled for television. From Tuesday to Saturday, viewers tuned in at 2:05 a.m. ET to watch an hour of high-speed action which was all recapped in a special Director’s Cut episode shown on Sunday at 1 a.m. ET in which the players gave their insight on the biggest hands of the week.

• Poker Tom Dwan
• Tom Dwan Now
• Tom Dwan Controversy

Poker King made headlines last year when it recruited Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey to peddle its wares.Now, with its mobile poker app gaining momentum in Asia, it’s linked up with the WPT for a unique. Dwan three-bets to $13,000 with A ♦ K ♥, and Schwimer makes the call. “Alright Tom, let’s go,” says Schwimer as he puts in the calling chips. “Only guy I can beat at the table.” The flop comes 4♠5♣2 ♥, bringing in top two pair for Schwimer. Dwan bets $14,000, and Schwimer contemplates for a few seconds before deciding on a flat call. But when it comes to playing heads-up against the game’s elite, he’s often more talk than action. Indeed, we can’t forget the famous incident with Tom Dwan in 2008 (see video above).

For high-stakes gamblers, sometimes playing poker for the money on the table just isn’t enough, and they decide to integrate prop bets into the game. With such high-level thinking players at the table, one must always be aware of how any situation is affecting play. On this week’s Director’s Cut episode, Tom Dwan discussed a couple hands in which the prop bets were influential in his decision making.

Review of the Hands:

Hand No. 1

Line up:

Tom Dwan
Patrik Antonius
Howard Lederer — Small blind $200
Eli Elezra — Big blind $400
Ilari Sahamies — Straddle $800
Phil Ivey

Ivey raises to $3,000 with J 6. Dwan calls with K 2, Antonius calls with A J, Lederer folds, Elezra calls with A Q, and Sahamies calls from the straddle with J 7. The pot is now $15,800.

Tom Dwan: There was some side-betting going on, and I won money if diamonds came on the flop, so because of that, if I had two diamonds in my hand, usually, I would either fold and hope everyone else folded, or reraise and hope everyone folded. Generally, it’d be slightly disadvantageous to see a flop with two diamonds in my hand. Partly because of this, I called, hoping that Phil would be smart enough to realize that thought process was going through my head and would not realize that this early on in the props, I’d call two diamonds for trick value, so I made a call preflop that was a little speculative.

The flop comes 9 4 3. Elezra and Sahamies check. Ivey bets $11,000.

TD: That’s an extremely good flop for my hand. Here [after Ivey bet], I could raise, but then I could put myself in a really tough spot because the prospect of ever folding king-high on that board when you also have a flush draw actually isn’t that good, because king-high is going to be good at least 10 percent of the time when all the chips get in because there are so many straight draws and other flush draws available, so I didn’t want to raise and have Phil go all in with like 6-5 of diamonds and have to fold a hand that has huge equity and could also be the best hand. So I called.

After Dwan calls Ivey’s bet of $11,000, Antonius and Elezra fold. Sahamies reraises to $41,000. Ivey folds, and Dwan goes all in. Sahamies calls. The pot is now $238,400.

TD: I have a pretty easy shove here. If I had 10-2 of diamonds, it’d be really close, and sometimes I’d fold, sometimes I’d shove. It’d be really close, but with king-high, it’s pretty easy to just get all of the chips in and hope that he has queen-high diamonds or 6-5 or something like that and just pray he doesn’t have ace-high diamonds, because if he has any other hand, even if he flips over a set, I’m not in very bad shape. I’m only losing a little money, and the times that he flips over 6-5, or even a hand like A-9 or something, more than make up for it, because there is already so much money in the pot. Plus the fact that I really would expect to be ahead a fairly decent amount — 10 or 15 percent of the time — with just king-high. And if I’m ahead, he doesn’t have that many outs to hit, because any diamond wins the hand for me.

The turn is the 8 and the river is the Q. Dwan wins with a king-high flush.

Hand No. 2

Line up:

Tom Dwan
Patrik Antonius — Small blind $200
Howard Lederer (sitting out)
Eli Elezra — Big blind $400
Ilari Sahamies
Phil Ivey

Sahamies limps under the gun with 9 3. Dwan raises to $4,000 with Q 9. Patrik calls with A 10, Elezra calls with 5 3, and Sahamies called. The pot is now $16,600.

TD: Phil and Ilari were betting $50,000 on the color of the flop, and Ilari had black cards and Phil had red cards, so when he [Sahamies] limped under the gun there, his range includes a lot more red cards than normal. I made it $4,000, and Patrik called out of the small blind, and I think he’s got to have a pretty strong hand there a huge amount of the time because he’s calling $3,800 more out of position. And we’re pretty deep-stacked, so he can’t really expect to make a lot of money unless he has some pretty decent holdings. I mean, that could be 9-8 suited, but I don’t expect him to be calling A-9 offsuit or that kind of hand. Ilari also called from under the gun.

The flop comes 10 10 2, and the action checks around. The pot remains $16,600.

Patrik Antonius: I could have bet the flop there when it came 10-10-2. Instead, I went for the check-raise, and no one bet the flop. Tom Dwan had the button, and he just checked his flush draw. It was kind of a goofy play for me.

TD: I’m very happy with my hand on the flop, but Patrik and I were pretty deep. It seemed like a good spot to be a little bit tricky and possibly avoid a small percentage chance of getting in a bit of trouble later in the hand by checking behind. I did that, and the turn was one of the best cards in the deck for me— an offsuit queen.

The turn is the Q. The board now reads 10 10 2 Q. Antonius bets $11,000, and Dwan calls. The pot is now $38,600.

TD: I have a really easy call with top pair, which is probably good, and if it’s not, I can always hope to hit my flush.

The river is the 5. The board now reads 110 10 2 Q 5. Antonius bets $32,000. Dwan raises to $96,300, and Antonius calls. Dwan wins the pot of $231,200.

TD: I could just call there, but I feel like I’d be missing some value. If I raise and Patrik shoves, I’m in a terrible spot, because he can’t have me beat too often. He knows I can’t have a full house too often, but he’s still shoving almost $300,000, so it’s not like I’m going to be very happy to call, because he is going to have me beat a large amount of the time. So, I was definitely a little worried about that prospect, because it would just be such an uncomfortable spot if he went all in. But that said, I still thought there was a decent amount of value to raise just because it looks like I can’t have a flush after checking on the flop and just calling the turn.

PA: Not too many people would raise with a small flush, but he had a queen-high flush. It was just one of those hands. I made a bad decision on the river. I’m just a little bit too curious sometimes.

After redrawing seats, the same six players have returned for another week of cash games on Poker After Dark. These episodes are airing every night at 2:05 a.m. ET through Saturday. Another Director’s Cut episode will are on Sunday at 1 a.m. ET on NBC.

Table Of Contents

Wednesday's latest 'High Stakes Poker' episode on PokerGO was a continuation of the last week’s game, which was played $200/$400/$800 w/ an $800 ante from the third blind.

The episode started with six players in their seats while Tom Dwan was sitting out. Here’s how things stack up at the top of the broadcast:

Leforbes vs. Schwimer – No Apologies for Running Good

In the first hand of the new episode, Damien Leforbes raised to $2,500 from middle position with the and the ever-aggressive Michael Schwimer three-bet to $9,000 from the cutoff holding the . Action folded back to Leforbes and he called to see the flop, which gave Schwimer trip eights.

Leforbes check-called a bet of $6,000 and then check-called one of $15,000 on the turn. The river was gin for Leforbes, who checked his full house. Schwimer bet $24,000, which left him just $21,000 behind, and Leforbes check-raised all in.

“Did you get lucky as shit on me?” a seemingly-frustrated Schwimer asked before calling off and discovering the bad news.

“I will not apologize for running good,” said Leforbes as he pulled in the $153,400 pot.

Dwan vs. Schwimer – “I’m in Pretty Good Shape”

After reloading to $100,000, Schwimer raised to $3,000 from the hijack and Dwan, who had returned to the game, three-bet to $13,000 from the small blind. Schwimer called, the flop fell . Dwan continued for $14,000 and Schwimer, who flopped top two pair, just called to see the turn.

Poker Tom Dwan

Dwan made top pair but still checked, and Schwimer followed suit. On the river, Dwan bet $25,000 and Schwimer leaned back in his chair while letting out a big sigh before saying, “All in.”

It was $73,000 total and Dwan hit the tank.

“Didn’t snap-call, I’m in pretty good shape,” Schwimer claimed. Dwan thought long and hard before paying it off, and just like that Schwimer doubled back by claiming the $200,800 pot.

Sean Perry vs. Jean-Robert Bellande – JRB Puts Himself in Hot Water

Dwan opened for $2,500 with the and Sean Perry looked down at the next to act. He three-bet to $8,000 and then Jean-Robert Bellande, who had lost a six-figure pot to Dwan the hand prior, four-bet to $30,000 out of the small blind with the .

Dwan folded and Perry, the son of poker pro Ralph Perry, paused for a few beats before five-betting to $70,000. Bellande asked how much his opponent had behind, which was $246,000, and Bellande opted to call.

He flopped top pair on the flop and checked it over to Perry, who bet $40,000 into the pot of $144,100. Bellande called and then check-called a bet of $70,000 when the turn gave him an open-ended straight draw.

After the paired the board on the river, Bellande checked for the third time and Perry moved all in for his last $136,000. Bellande asked for a count and realized he had the bigger stack, albeit by a slim margin of $18,000. Eventually, Bellande called only to see his opponent table the goods.

With that, Perry doubled in a juicy pot worth $637,700.

Bryn Kenney vs. Sean Perry – Nine High, Not Like a Boss

After Rick Salomon left the game, a new player joined the game in Bryn Kenney, who bought in with a massive stack. Here’s how this stacked up at that point in time:

In his first hand of this episode, Kenney raised to $4,000 from the cutoff with the and Perry called from the big blind with the . The flop gave Perry trip eights and he check-called a bet of $10,000.

Tom Dwan Now

Perry checked again on the turn, which gave him a full house, and Kenney continued to bluff by firing out $23,000. Perry just called and then checked yet again on the river. Kenney took the bait and triple-barreled it with a bet of $64,000, but had to fold when Perry finally woke up with the check-raise to $219,000. Kenney took an early hit while Perry collected another big pot, this one worth $359,8000.

Michael Schwimmer vs. Bryn Kenney – One Will Quit the Game

In the penultimate hand of the episode, John Andress had the $1,600 straddle on and both Dwan and Bellande called, the former under the gun and the latter on the button. Schwimer then raised to $4,000 with the in the small blind and Kenney called from the big with the . All the aforementioned players called and it was five-way action to the flop.

Schwimer continued for $15,000 with top pair and Kenney raised to $52,000 with his set. Andress folded, Dwan gave up his flush draw, and Bellande got out of the way. Schwimer called and the turn gave him a wheel draw, which he checked.

Kenney bet $71,000, Schwimer called, and the completed the board on the river. Schwimer improved to two pair but checked to Kenney, who bet $165,000. Schwimer snap-called off his stack and then let loose some expletives upon seeing Kenney had the best hand to win the $597,200 pot.

“Alright, that was fun boys,” Schwimer told the table before giving up his seat in the game.

Remember, High Stakes Poker will air every Wednesday but is only available to PokerGO subscribers. If you’re not currently subscribed, you can get a monthly subscription for $14.99, a three-month plan for $29.99, and an annual subscription for $99.99.

_{*Images courtesy of PokerGO.}

Tom Dwan Controversy

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