The players tossed chips around for the final time on High Stakes Poker. Episode 17 was the final episode of the season, and so far it has been a very interesting one. I’m not sure how it stacks up to season 3, but we will see after the final episode is over. This $500k buy-in sure made things interesting, but we still never had a pot over $1 million (because of Guy and Benyamine).

As we start the final show, we have the same players from the last few episodes; Antonio Esfandiari, Sammy Farha, David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius, Guy Laliberte, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, and Barry Greenstein. So far the big winner is Doyle Brunson after that huge pot he played with Guy, and other players are up or down various amounts. I’m not sure what the tally is for everyone, but what I do hope is that a lot more money changes hands tonight!

As we get things started, it folds to Guy on the button who makes it $4,000 with Qs3s. Doyle calls with QTo, and Greenstein with J9o. The flop comes 8c7sKs, and gives Guy a flush draw. It checks to him, and he fires $12,000. Doyle folds and when it gets back to Barry he looks like he wants to make a play at it, however decides to just lay it down. Guy wins the small $13,000 pot.

The next hand we see Sammy UTG who calls with 44 and right behind him Benyamine picks up AA. He makes it $10,000 straight and it folds over to Negreanu who calls on the button with T9o. Right behind him Doyle looks down at AKo and decides to flat call with it. It folds back to Sammy who of course calls with his 44. We have 4 way action to the flop of Td8h3d. Sammy checks, and David bets out $38,000 into $42,600. Daniel had flopped top pair here but he can’t like it too much, but decides to call the bet. Doyle and Sammy fold and now it is heads up with the pot at $118,600. The turn is great for David, the 3c. After just a small moment, he bets again, this time $80,000. When it shows Daniel, it really doesn’t look like he wants to fold. After a short pause, he makes it $100,000 more. David immediately stands up and looks sick, to which Daniel says “What do you have 2 kings over there?” He asks Daniel how much mow he has left, which is $210,000 more. David thinks and keeps putting the hand together, trying to get Daniel to talk. “I put you on two kings at every point in the hand.” David then gives a speech about how “you have to live like a man, and die like a man,” and goes all-in. Daniel immediately says “Oh brother,” which was music to Benyamine’s ears. Daniel said he put him on KK the whole way and didn’t think he could call. He eventually folds and David wins the $850,000 pot.

Later in the show, we find Guy looking down at a good hand, AKo and makes it $4,000 to go. Right behind him Negreanu has a good hand as well, JJ, and calls. Everyone else folds and it was heads up to the flop of Ad5dAh. Guy flops trips but decides to slow play and checks, and Daniel checks behind. The turn comes the 9s and again it goes check/check. The river fills up Guy, the Kc, and he checks a third time. This time Daniel thought his jacks were good and bets $5,000. Guy says “that’s not very convincing” and raises for the first time of the hand, up to $15,000. Daniel laughs and folds, and Guy shows his AK.

It seems as if the game is winding down, there are a lot of small pots being won by Guy and some other players. There is only about 20 minutes left in the game and the last thing anyone wants to do it go broke with such a short time left. In this hand, we see Benyamine limping in with QJo, which creates a few other limps, Antonius with 6c3c, Negreanu with 8s8h, and Esfandiari with J7o. When it gets to Sammy in the bb he says “I want to gamble, raisey daisy” and makes it $15,000 with As2s. It folds back over the Negreanu who has played with Sammy a lot over the years, and re-raises up to $45,000. This catches Sammy a little off guard but calls. He offers a chop like he does with almost every hand, because he says “I have a really bad hand,” to which Daniel declines. Sammy checks dark to the flop of QdKdKs, and Daniel checks behind. The turns falls the 7d, and there is now 3 diamonds on board. Sammy looks like he wants to try to take this pot and Daniel says “If you have a really bad hand it probably didn’t hit any of that.” Sammy eventually does try to take it away by betting $60,000 unto $94,700. This puts Negreanu in a very tough spot and he started analyzing the hand and gets Sammy talking a lot. They start discussing the hand and Daniel can’t get Sammy to show a card. Daniel says “so if I go all-in and you call can we run it twice?” and Sammy replies with just “yeah.” It takes a while, but eventually Daniel makes the right play and goes all-in for $81,200 more. This is a great play and it looked as if Sammy would have been committed, but alas he can not call with his A high. He talks to himself for a while then folds, and right after Esfandiari says “eights are good.” “Wow you’re good,” Daniel says to him, what a sick read by Antonio! Negreanu wins the $295,900 pot and might give him a little more life.

The hand right after starts with Negreanu limping in with Ac8c, Doyle with 33, Greenstein with Ts7d, and a titling Farha makes it $11,200 with Th9h. Negreanu knows Sammy is steaming and calls, Doyle calls, and Barry folds. The flop comes Ad3d6s and both players check to Doyle, who flopped a set. He thinks for a moment and bets $35,000 into $37,100. Sammy folds and Daniel says “Doyle turned three 3’s over here” calling out his exact hand. However, one flaw he has after he calls hands, is he still calls, and does call. The turn comes 5h and Daniel checks. Doyle says “I flopped a set of threes and then he says I call,” trying to get Daniel to think he doesn’t have a set. He then bets $120,000 into $107,100, and Daniel can’t pay to find out and folds.

Later we see Barry finally playing a hand, raising to $4,000 with 22. Sammy just calls in position with his JsTs and it is heads up to the flop. Barry pulls a very un-Barry like move and bets $6,000 in the dark. It was the perfect moment to do so because the flop comes 2cTd6h. Sammy thinks and min-raises up to $12,000. Barry looks back at his hand and just calls. The turn was bad for both players, the Ac, scaring Sammy. It goes check/check, and the river comes 5h. Barry puts in $30,000 into $34,900 and Sammy looks sick. He then starts complaining about David who is talking throughout the hand when he is trying to think, and eventually does fold.

As the show is coming to an end we see a lot of players making looser than normal calls both preflop and on the flop in hopes to strike something. This hand is no different. It starts with Antonius raising to $4000 on the button with A8o, and is called by all three blinds, Guy with 7d6h, Negreanu with 4d3d, and Doyle with Kc7c. The flop comes 6cAs5h and everyone checks to Patrik, who bets $12,000 into $16,800. Guy calls right behind him with his pair of 6s, Daniel calls with his oesd, and Brunson throws it away. The turn comes 3c and it checks to Antonius again, who bets $40,000 into $52,800. That ends the hand, as both players fold, and Patrik wins the hand.

The final hand of the night and the season starts off with Antonius making it $4,000 with KQo. Negreanu calls on the button with J8o, and there is no way possible Sammy can fold the last hand; he calls with 96o. 3 way action to the flop of 7cAc4d, and it checks around as no one hits anything. The turn pairs the board, the 7s, and Farha and Antonius check once more. This time Daniel senses he can take the pot, and bets $6,000 into $13,700. Sammy folds and Antonius calls with his king high. The turn is the 5h and it goes check/check, Antonius wins the last hand with just king high and we are now done with season 4 of High Stakes Poker!

Looking back at this season, I’m not sure how I would rank it poker wise against season 3. It was great seeing the few pots that were nearly $1 million, but last season seemed to have more interesting spots. There were times when all the money on the table may have effected how everyone was playing, but I would be lying if I said I was disappointed. I never missed an episode and High Stakes Poker is still without a doubt the best poker show on television. I can’t wait until season 5, assuming it will be made, and hope the come up with even more unique ideas like this $500k buy-in. It has been fun writing up these summaries, and I hope to come back next season!

Let’s hope for High Stakes Poker Season 5!