Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot pulled off an epic bluff during Friday night’s Hustler Casino Live stream before proceeding to crack on his opponent’s “nitty” style of play.
The double live-stream began in the afternoon from inside Hustler Casino in Los Angeles. Late in the first HCL stream of the day, the high-stakes regular made a bold move that paid off in a big way against Pepe, another frequent player on the show.
Airball’s Big Bluff
Airball, a polarizing figure on Hustler Casino Live, began the first of two Friday night streams a few hours into the session with $200,000. Pepe was initially in for $100,000 in the $50/$100/$200 ($100 big blind ante) No-limit hold’em cash game.
It took Airball little time to increase his stack to over the $300,000 mark before making his move. The hand began with Pepe limping for $400 from the cutoff with Q♦9♦. Raymond then did the same in the big blind with 7♠7♦. Johan “YoH Viral” Guilbert called the straddle from the third blind with 8♥7♣.
Action was then on Airball in the straddle, and he decided to make it $3,400 with 10♠9♣. Pepe and Raymond called to see a flop of K♣Q♠2♠. Following a check, Airball bet $6,000 with a gutter ball, which forced Raymond out of the pot, but not Pepe.
The turn was the 3♥, no improvement to either player. Once again, the preflop aggressor fired out a bet, this time for $30,000, larger than the size of the pot. Pepe, a heavy favorite to win the hand with second pair, snap-called. But when the 4♠ appeared on the river, Pepe likely became concerned that his opponent hit a flush.
Knowing that, Airball decided to represent a flush even though he only had 10-high, and moved all in for his opponent’s $146,875 stack. Following a three-minute tank, Pepe opted to fold the best hand.
Airball then showed the bluff, which put Pepe on tilt as he frustratingly walked away from the Hustler Casino Live stage to calm down for a bit.
“Look what you do to him,” another player told Airball following the hand while Pepe walked away from the table.
“Good, he’s a f*****g nit,” Airball fired back. “Everyone loses the f*****g hand except me. I’m the only one with heart.”
At the time of publishing, both Pepe and Airball were still grinding away in the second Hustler Casino Live stream of the day, a $100/$200/$400 game.