Recreational Player has a Horrific Session on High Stakes Poker

Justin Gavri had a night to forget on the second High Stakes Poker episode of Season 14, a show that was released on PokerGO Monday night.

The recreational high roller who ran into a number of brutal situations during Season 13 fell victim to multiple six-figure coolers in the latest episode. He wasn’t the only player at the table as he was joined in the $200/$400 no-limit hold’em game by the same opponents as last week. That included Andrew Robl, Marc Kulick, Brandon Steven, Jared Bleznick, Seth Gottlieb, and Markus Gonsalves. Starting stack sizes with over $2 million on the table were as follows:

Multi-Way Pot to Start Things Off

The first episode of the new season produced some coolers and monster pots. It was no different in Episode 2, and it all started with a juicy multi-way pot that ballooned before the flop was even dealt.

Action began with Steven raising J♠10♣ on the button in a straddled pot to $3,000. Gottlieb, in the small blind, called with K♠10♠, as did Kulick in the big blind with 6♣3♠. Bleznick, the straddler, went for a three-bet to $20,000 with J♦7♦ and received calls from everyone but Steven.

The flop came out 9♦A♥J♣, which didn’t exactly excite any of the three players. Bleznick, who ended Episode 1 with a brutal $450,000 cooler, bet out $25,000 with middle pair. Kulick folded, but Gottlieb, getting better than 3-1 on his money, called with a gutshot straight draw before the A♣ paired the board on the turn. Bleznick checked and then folded the best hand following a $30,000 wager from Gottlieb.

Can Gonsalves Get Value with Queens?

Gottlieb would then play a big pot with two premium preflop hands involved. But this time around he was on the short end of the stick.

Gonsalves would open the hand in question to $2,000 from an early position with Q♦Q♣. Steven, sitting on K♣3♣, called, while Gottlieb made it $8,000 to go with J♥J♣ on the button. That caused the original raiser to bump it up to $25,000, more than enough to convince Steven to toss his cards into the muck. But Gottlieb had to see the flop.

The flop ran out A♦5♠6♥, which brought about some concern for the two competitors. Both players would check and then see the K♥ on the turn, not exactly what either player was hoping to catch. They again checked before the 6♠ appeared on the river. Gonsalves went for a value bet of $18,000.

“It would be sick if you value vet with queens and I pay it off with jacks,” Gottlieb accurately called out his opponent’s cards before throwing in some calling chips only to find out Gonsalves, who has 50 World Series of Poker (WSOP) cashes, had the queens he predicted.

Two Rough Ones for Gavri

Justin Gavri might be the new Daniel Negreanu, who ran worse than anyone during the early days of High Stakes Poker. Gavri had some horrendous luck during Season 13, and he’s picked up where he left off.

There were two hands in particular that he’d love to have back. The first hand started with Robl raising to $5,000 with A♦K♣ and receiving a call from Steven on the button with 8♥7♦. Bleznick, in the first of two straddles, also called with 10♠10♣, as did Gavri, who was in the second straddle and holding 6♥5♥.

The flop showed 5♣10♦6♣, hitting two players right in the face. Bleznick bet out his top set for $6,000 before Gavri raised his two pair to $25,000. Steven and Robl folded, but Bleznick raised it up to $70,000. Gavri then moved all in for $139,000 total, matching his opponent’s stack.

Bleznick snap-called and basically had his opponent drawing dead. The J♠ on the turn ended any hope of Gavri hitting runner-runner quads, and he lost the $299,000 pot.

Gavri would finish the show in an even more brutal way. He raised to $2,000 with J♥10♠, and was called by Robl’s K♥5♥ and Kulick’s Q♥9♠. The preflop raiser loved seeing the K♣Q♠9♣ flop as it gave him the nuts.

He loved it even more when Kulick bet out $8,000 with two pair. Gavri called, but Robl made a nice fold with top pair, accurately sensing his hand was in bad shape. The 8♦ appeared on the turn, which didn’t change anything. Kulick, still confident in the strength of his hand, bet $23,000.

Gavri continued to play the hand passively and just called. But the Q♦ on the river paired the board and gave Kulick, who ended Episode 1 by cracking Bleznick’s flopped straight for a monster pot, a full house. He put his opponent all in for $65,200 and received a snap-call. That put an end to the second episode of the season. High Stakes Poker will return to PokerGO next Monday night at 5 p.m. PT.

Bleznick Takes $450k High Stakes Poker Bad Beat

_{*Images courtesy of PokerGO/Antonio Abrego}