This week, a new group of eight players took to the High Stakes Poker felts. The two youngest combatants at the table, Dario Minieri and Tom “durrrr” Dwan, stole the show, which is in its fifth season and airs on GSN.
On the first hand of the night, poker pro Eli Elezra took a stand against Dwan’s aggressive nature. Dwan held 8-6 offsuit and made it $3,000 pre-flop. Radio executive Alan Meltzer called holding K-9 of clubs and Elezra made the call with A-2 of diamonds. The flop came 10-5-4 with two diamonds, giving Elezra the nut flush draw. He led out for $16,000, Dwan raised to $46,200, Meltzer got out of the way, and Elezra shoved for $196,800. Dwan promptly folded and Elezra scooped the pot, hoping to slow down the youngster. The two played together during the first heat of High Stakes Poker Season 5.
A few hands later, David Peat, a brand new face on High Stakes Poker Season 5, held Q-9 of spades and called the big blind. Doyle Brunson called with 5-4 of clubs and Minieri checked his option in the big blind with 9-5 of hearts. The flop came Q-3-9 with two hearts, giving Peat top two pair and Minieri middle pair a flush draw. Minieri led out for $2,600, Peat raised to $9,000, and Minieri made it $23,500. High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan commented, “This is a fairly unusual move here to put in that third bet with a queen-high flush draw.” Peat came over the top of Minieri’s bet for $105,000, prompting the Italian World Series of Poker bracelet holder to get out of the way.
Minieri would also come up on the short end of a hand against Elezra. In it, Elezra peaked down at pocket kings and bet $4,000 pre-flop. Minieri raised it up to $13,000 with A-9 of hearts and Elezra just called. The flop came 8-8-K, improving Elezra to a boat, and the action went check-check. A queen fell on the turn. Elezra checked, Minieri bet $14,500, and Elezra made the call. The river came an ace, giving Minieri aces-up. Elezra bet $35,000, which was about half the pot, and Minieri promptly folded. Elezra added $93,600 to his stack by virtue of the win.
Peat and Minieri tangled once again in a hand where Elezra made the first live straddle of the evening for $1,600. Minieri looked down at pocket tens and raised to $5,500. Peat, who held A-4 of diamonds, re-raised to $16,500 and Minieri made the call. The flop came J-A-2, giving Peat the lead in the hand, but the action went check-check. A five fell on the turn, again leading to both players checking. On the river, which was a six, Peat bet $25,000 and Minieri tossed his cards into the muck. It was one of several top-notch reads by Minieri throughout the episode, which drew praise from Kaplan.
Meltzer and Mike Baxter locked horns late in the show. In the hand, Dwan made the price of poker $3,000 holding A-10, Meltzer called with A-7 of diamonds, and Baxter called holding Q-J. The flop came 9-3-6 with two hearts. Meltzer led out for $6,000, Baxter raised to $16,000, Dwan got out of the way, and Meltzer called the extra $10,000. The turn was a king. Meltzer checked this time, Baxter bet $25,000, and his opponent folded, giving the man nicknamed “Silent” his first pot of High Stakes Poker Season 5.
In the final hand, Dwan and Elezra once again went at it. Dwan made it $6,000 to go with 7-3 of diamonds pre-flop, Meltzer made the call with A-3 of clubs, and Elezra called with A-10 of spades. The flop came 8-4-A with two diamonds, giving Dwan a flush draw against Elezra’s and Meltzer’s top pair. Dwan made a $14,000 continuation bet, Meltzer called, and Elezra bumped the action to $45,000. Dwan asked for a count before calling and Meltzer mucked. The turn was the jack of hearts and the action went check-check. A king on the river led Kaplan to conclude that Dwan is “very likely to bet here because he is Durrrr, he has seven-high, and he knows that Eli’s hand probably isn’t very strong.” Dwan fired out $57,300, which was less than half the pot, and Elezra called. The dealer shipped the $246,600 in the middle to Elezra in the richest pot of the episode.
New episodes of High Stakes Poker air at 9:00pm ET on GSN every Sunday night.
