In our Poker Hand of the Week we analyze the biggest Pot in TV Poker History worth a staggering $3,100,000 won by Tom Dwan vs. Wesley Fei at the Million Dollar Game.
Poker Hand of the Week Setup
The hand was played on Day 3 of at the Million Dollar Game at Hustler Casino Live, which featured the strongest and most action-packed line-up with Tom Dwan, Doug Polk, Nik Airball, Wesley and Handz among others.
It’s important to note that the Stand Up Game is on and that Wesley has a Yellow button and Tom Dwan doesn’t.
That means two things:Wesley doesn’t need to win the hand to avoid having to pay the $6,000 bounty per player, so it’s more likely that he has a strong starting hand.
The game is 6-max No-Limit Hold’em and Blinds are $500/$1,000 with a $2,000 BB Ante. Both players are very deep with effective stack size being 1,550 big blinds! Wesley has Dwan covered.
Poker Hand of the Week Action
Preflop:
LSG Hank opens from the Hijack to $7,000 with A♥7♣ and Wesley 3-bets from the button to $30K with A♦K♥. Tom Dwan picks up Q♠Q♣ in the straddle and makes it $100K to go. Hank folds, but Wesley 5-bets to $275K, Tom makes the call. Pot Size: $562,000
Flop:
Heads-up to a dry flop of 3♦8♠8♦. Durrrr checks and Wes makes a small continuation bet of $125,000 (22% pot). Dwan check-calls. Pot Size: $812,000
Turn:
5♥ on the turn and Tom checks again. Fei fires a $350,000 second barrel and Tom check-calls again. Pot Size: $1,500,000
River:
The 6♣ on the river is basically a blank and durrrr checks for a third time and Wesley then puts him All-In for his remaining $786,000.
There is $2,300,000 in the pot and Dwan goes in the tank for almost four minutes before flicking in the call. And what a call it is giving Tom Dwan the biggest pot in TV Poker History worth an incredible $3,100,000.
Poker Hand of the Week Analysis
Let’s dive straight into the analysis of the biggest pot in televised poker history.
As stated in the beginning, it is very important to mention that the Stand Up Game is on and nearing the end, so it not only creates a lot of action, but also influences the poker strategy and hand ranges.
Since Wesley has already won a pot in this round he has much less incentive to bluff in this spot, which means his hand strength goes up.
Hank opens with a standard raise from the Hijack with A8o. Wes now has an easy 3-bet on the button with AKo and Tom Dwan an easy Cold 4-bet with Pocket Queens from the straddle.
Hank obviously gets out of the way and now it’s back on Fei, who has two options here: Call or 5-bet. I personally would prefer a call as he has position, but Wesley goes for the 5-bet. That means he is representing Aces or Kings or a bluff, so he is polarized now.
The 3d8s8d flop is pretty dry and Dwan checks 100% of his hands here even if he is the one having Aces or Kings, as then you want your opponent to keep bluffing.
Wes continues to tell his story of a big hand by making a cbet and Tom has an easy check-call as he wants to keep him bluffing, if he is and at the same time control the size of the pot in case he is behind.
The 5h on the turn is a blank. Dwan checks his full range here and Fei fires a second barrel polarizing his hand even further.
According to a GTO solver, it’s actually pretty close between calling and raising with Pocket Queens here. While calling is best, the solver also likes to raise as you are denying equity from the bluffs Wesley is having, which is mostly Ace-King or Adxd.
The 6c river is another blank and Dwan has an easy check hoping for a check behind by Wesley. He has other ideas though and shoves All-In.
Now Tom Dwan actually has a very difficult decision, since Wesley very often has Aces or Kings in this spot, occasionally an Eight.
However, the solver recommends to call here, since Tom beats all the bluffs and is close to the top of his range, while at the same time only losing to Pocket Aces, Pocket Kings and the occasional Eight. It is very close though as the two are more than 1,000 big blinds deep.
Not sure, if Tom Dwan knows this, but he ends up making the call to win the by far biggest pot in TV poker history worth an astonishing $3,100,000!
Poker Hand of the Week Conclusion
Very interesting and well-played hand by both players. Wesley’s hand Ace-King is definitely the best candidate for a big bluff here, since you are blocking Aces and Kings.
So it is rather unlikely that Dwan has Aces and Kings and even with a hand as strong as Pocket Queens, he has a very difficult situation as they are super deep and Aces, Kings and an Eight beat him.
However, it is Tom Dwan. Durrrr is probably the biggest cash game legend of our times and got no qualms to make such a call, even in a pot as big as $3,100,000.
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