There’s nothing worse than getting all of your money into a pot before the flop, only to see your opponent instantly make the call and turn up aces. But if you’re feeling upset the next time you find yourself in this situation, you might find some solace in the fact that, unlike Tom Dwan, you won’t be losing more than $1 million when you hand your chips over to your opponent.
That’s exactly what happened on the latest episode of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Jeju 2018 Cash Game, when Dwan and Paul Phua got into one of the largest pots ever seen on a televised poker show.
Phua Finds Luck in the Straddle
The game was being played in South Korean won (SKW), with blinds of with blinds of SKW 3 million/6 million ($2,700/$5,400), as well as an additional 6 million big blind ante. In addition, Phua had posted a SKW 12 million ($10,800) straddle under the gun. That meant there was already SKW 27 million ($24,200) in the pot before the action started.
Dominik Nitsche opened the from cutoff, raising to SKW 30 million ($27,000) with K♥ Q♣. The action folded around to Dwan in the big blind, who held A♠ Q♥ and reraised to SKW 120 million ($107,500).
The big pot was more than welcome to Phua, who had been given A♥ A♣ as the straddle. After considering his options briefly, Phua raised again, putting SKW 320 million ($287,000) in the pot.
That caused Nitsche to quickly exit the hand, leaving only Dwan to make a decision. After tanking for four minutes, Dwan moved all in, which amounted to a bet of just under SKW 1.3 billion ($1.16 million).
That elicited a snap call from Phua, and Dwan knew he was in trouble, though he had not suspected that the Malaysian businessman held poker aces. The board ran out without offering Dwan any help, and by the river, he was already drawing dead. Phua raked in the pot, which totaled SKW 2.615 billion ($2.35 million).
Dwan Accustomed to Big Losses – And Wins
The massive loss caused Dwan to immediately leave the game, though it didn’t sound like his day was over yet.
“I’m gonna go play short deck,” he said as he stood up from the table.
While it can’t be fun to drop more than a million dollars in a matter of minutes, Dwan is no stranger to winning and losing some of the biggest pots in poker history.
Daniel Cates once shared a story about Dwan losing a $20 million pot in Macau, though Doug Polk later said that he witnessed the pot in question, and there was actually $30 million in the middle when Dwan ran a set of eights into a set of jacks.
Of course, there are plenty of tales about Dwan winning fortunes on a single hand as well. One story from back in 2011 had the poker pro winning about $11 million after a three-way preflop all-in confrontation, when Dwan’s ace-king beat out pocket jacks and pocket tens to scoop the cash.
