The fifth season of GSN’s High Stakes Poker aired its fourth episode over the weekend. The one hour-long extravaganza featured a $548,700 pot between Barry Greenstein and Tom “durrrr” Dwan. In it, Greenstein sucked out on the young poker prodigy, prompting the new catch phrase, “Math is idiotic.”
This week, the blinds were raised to $500-$1,000 with a $200 ante. In addition, the same players who appeared on the first three episodes returned on Sunday, when the show airs at 9:00pm ET on GSN. Dwan’s dominance of the table was the central theme throughout the 60 minutes. In the first hand, he made it $3,000 pre-flop with 6-7 of spades. Ilari “Ziigmund” Sahamies called with 10-8 offsuit and the flop came 4-6-3 rainbow. Holding top pair and an inside straight draw, Dwan led out and bet $8,000, prompting a raise from Sahamies to $29,000. Dwan made the call and the turn came a nine. The action went check-check. High Stakes Poker host Gabe Kaplan commented, “As he’s done before on our show, Sahamies aborts his mission.” The river eight saved Ziigmund, but the action went check-check again. Kaplan explained, “These players are afraid of value betting into Dwan because he could easily come over the top with nothing.”
The third hand of the night marked one of the largest pots in High Stakes Poker history. In it, reigning World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion Peter Eastgate made it $3,300 pre-flop with Q-8 off. Greenstein bumped the action to $12,000 with J-9 of hearts, Dwan raised to $31,300 with pocket aces, Eastgate folded, and Greenstein insta-called. On Greenstein’s quick action, Kaplan commented, “I think it’s because it’s Tom Dwan. J-9 of hearts is usually not a hand Barry would put in $20,000 more with.” The flop came 3-J-10, giving Greenstein top pair and Dwan an overpair to the board.
The action quickly escalated, as Dwan bet $46,200, Greenstein raised to $146,200, and Dwan shoved. Greenstein called for his entire stack, creating a massive $548,700 pot. As is customary for the Team PokerStars Pro, the board was only run once. The turn came a nine, giving Greenstein two pair, and a river five sealed the victory for the veteran. Dwan politely said, “Nice hand.” Greenstein responded, “Math is idiotic. If you feel like you’re going to win, you’ve got to put it in.” He explained that the catch phrase is meant to help raise money for Children-Inc.org.
It was not all bad news for Dwan, who picked up several pots later in the show to crawl his way back towards even. In one, Dwan held pocket nines, only to see the board come 9-10-Q, all spades. Eli Elezra bet $12,000 holding As-J, the nut flush draw and an open-ended straight draw. Dwan called with a set and the turn came the seven of clubs. Dwan checked, Elezra fired out $37,000, and Dwan called. The river was the six of clubs, meaning Elezra had missed all of his draws. The action went check-check and Dwan raked in a $121,600 pot.
Holding 5-3, Dwan saw the flop come 3-Q-5 in a hand against Eastgate. The World Champion led out and bet $5,000 with Q-7 (top pair) and Dwan called. The turn came a jack, which Kaplan described as “a little bit of a scare card for Dwan.” Eastgate bet $12,000 and Dwan once again just called. The river came a five, improving Dwan to a boat. Eastgate bet $15,000 and Dwan raised to $98,000. Kaplan speculated, “He’s trying to pretend like it’s a bluff.” However, Eastgate wisely folded and Dwan raked in $153,600.
On the final hand of the evening, Elezra made it $3,500 pre-flop holding A-7. Sahamies called with J-10, Daniel Negreanu called with Q-J, Greenstein called with pocket nines, and Dwan called with A-10. The flop came Q-Q-A, giving Negreanu trips; Elezra and Dwan held top pair. Elezra led out for $10,500, receiving calls from both Negreanu and Dwan. The turn came a harmless four. Negreanu fired $30,000 into the pot, Dwan got out of the way, and Elezra called. The river came another benign card, a five. Negreanu bet $75,000 and Elezra mucked, shipping the $185,600 pot to Negreanu, who was crippled last week after running into David Benyamine’s quad fours.
The preview for next week’s episode features the dominance of Dwan: “Tom Dwan continues to apply pressure to the table and no one can find the courage to fight back.” High Stakes Poker airs at 9:00pm ET on Sunday nights on GSN.
