Rick Salomon has stolen the show this season on High Stakes Poker, there’s no doubt about it. In the latest episode, the robbery continues as Salomon dominates the action and drags pot after pot. There’s one hand in particular that stands out from Monday night’s episode.
It all starts with the $800 straddle from Jean-Robert Bellande. Justin Gavri follows suit and throws out the double straddle–$1,600. Rob Yong, not to be outdone, caps it off with the $3,200 straddle.
Brandon Steven, on Yong’s left, puts an end to the straddle train and looks down at K♦️K♣, next to act. With Salomon on his left, still to act, Steven opts to just call the $3,200, setting the trap. Salomon, in the small blind, finds the 9♦️7♦️ and sees the dead money in the middle–he makes it $15,000 to go.
The action clears the rest of the field, but Steven’s money isn’t dead, far from it in fact, and he responds with a four-bet to $73,000. Salomon waits for the count from the dealer, but he’s not going anywhere. With $152,500 in the middle the flop comes down 8♣7❤️3♠, pairing Salomon and not offering Steven much to be afraid of.
“I’m getting one of ’em!”
Steven, with less than a pot-sized bet remaining, wastes no time and moves all-in. The words are barely out of his mouth before Salomon responds with a call. The call from Salomon comes so fast that Steven curses at the heavens, thinking he’s dead to two outs, but instead he’s a nearly 80/20 favorite to scoop the $437,100 pot. Well, that’s what the math tells us, but in real life, against Salomon, it’s closer to 50/50.
The two agree to run the rest of the cards twice, seeing two turns and rivers. Before the first run out comes down, Salomon proclaims, “I’m getting one of ’em!”
And he does.
The 9♣ on the first river improves him to two pair and, just like that, he’s on a free roll for the whole pot. Steven watches on, growing less confident with each passing second. As the dealer prepares the second runout, he says, “There’s zero chance I chop this pot.”
The 7♠ on the second turn all but confirms Steven’s fears, leaving him drawing to those two outs he thought he needed earlier. There’s no miracle on the river for the businessman and he slides his chips towards Salomon before making his exit from the show. As Salomon collects the chips, he sings to himself, “That dealer was nice, thank you.”
There’s no one in High Stakes Poker history that plays quite like Salomon does. He’s an enigma, both on and off the felt, as well as one of the most entertaining cash game players to watch.
There’s still two more episodes left in Season 11, airing on PokerGO, you don’t want to miss them.
Images Courtesy of PokerGO
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