It's been almost 13 years since Laak appeared on High Stakes screens. Most might think that after all this time, Laak would have a slower rollout, but the opposite has been true. The 51-year-old player appeared on the latest episode of High Stakes Poker, where he felt right at home. He didn't shy away from the action, of course, and in his natural jovial way, he managed to entertain the entire table as if he never stopped. His presence brought a classic old-school touch, and the only thing missing from the whole show was perhaps the magical Antonio Esfandiari.
Bad-beats again for Justin Gavri
Outside of the legendary Laak, however, this show offered a stellar line-up consisting of debutants Nik Airball and Chino Rheem, but there was also a shortage of seasoned hard-hitters, namely Justin Gavri, Jean-Robert Bellande, Vivian Yang, Santosh Suvarna and British grinder Anthony Robl. For the aforementioned Justin Gavri, however, this season has brought a series of badbeats and it was no different in this episode.
Right off the bat, he got a couple of in a double restraddle pot. For 20,000 he flopped against Vivian Yang with suited connectors . indicates that he will not check. There wasn't much left in the already bloated pot, and after a series of raisers, all the chips go into the middle of the table. The turn and river didn't pair up once on the two boards, however, and the pot of $372,900 thus goes to Yang.
Gavri didn't lose everything in this hand, however. With roughly 40,000 left, he made an aggressive line with . In this case, he finds himself in HU against Santosh Suvarna. On the mono flop doesn't slow down and on the turn there is no escape. All-in/call situation and Gavri stands helpless against a flopped set on Santosh's hand.
In the last hand of the episode, he pulls another 100k out of the miracle pocket and the chips haven't even warmed up properly yet and we can watch Gavri face a 3-bet with a pair of Jacks and opt for a cold 4-bet. However, the original aggressor Andrew Robl finds a pair and suddenly it's a 5-bet. So, in a not-so-folding mood, Gavri gets his freshly-pulled money into the middle of the table and once again, without the help of two boards, loses a massive $233,300 pot.
With that hand, the episode ends and we can look forward to an action-packed dose in the next one. You can see if Gavri makes up this abysmal minus, as well as catch up with the announcements of the ageless legend Phil Laak, on the PokerGO streams.
Source - PokerGO, YouTube, Twitter, PokerNews
