Bill Perkins truly does want to “Die With Zero.” The wealthy recreational poker player, along with Doug Polk, donated heavily Sunday night to the table in an 11-hour high-stakes stream at The Lodge Card Club.
Polk is a co-owner of the card room near Austin, Texas, and he lost $288,900 on the session. If there’s any consolation for the three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Perkins lost a bunch more than he did ($741,100).
Despite the rough session, Polk can take solace in knowing the stream, which had over 7,000 concurrent viewers throughout most of the night, was a hit and provided viewers with some intense action. There were dozens of six-figure pots in the $200/$4000 ($400 big blind ante) game, and every player bought in for at least $100,000.
Polk’s Failed Bluff Attempt
The stream began at 3 p.m. CT and didn’t conclude until nearly 3:00 in the morning. Commentators Skull Mike and Slick Rick somehow managed to grind through the entire session, which saw one player — Alex — dominate the competition to he tune of a $590,1000 profit.
Alex won many big hands, but perhaps the most memorable one was against Polk in what became the largest pot in The Lodge live-stream history ($707,800). After Taras, a regular in the Lodge’s big games, raised it to $2,000 with A♦6♦ from an early position, Polk three-bet to $7,000 from his direct left with A♠4♠. Alex, in the cutoff with J♠J♦, four-bet it to $20,000, which forced Taras off the hand, but Polk went for a five-bet to $60,000.
The re-raise didn’t convince Alex to fold, so he made the call and saw a flop of 3♣2♣9♦. Polk, on a gut-shot straight draw, bet out $28,000 and received a call. When the J♥ appeared on the turn, Alex hit top set, but the poker room’s co-owner didn’t slow down. He made a $78,000 wager this time, and again his opponent just called.
There would be no straight coming through on the 8♥ river. Still, Polk emptied the clip on ace-high, betting $186,000, enough to put Alex all in. A snap-call was made, and Alex took down an enormous pot that helped propel him to a huge winning session.
Tough Poker Session for Perkins and Nik Airball
Polk wasn’t the only player at the table who lost money Sunday night at The Lodge. Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot lost $71,600 thanks in large part to a hand in which he four-bet with 7x3x into pocket aces. Taras, with the rockets, just called in position and then again called to a continuation bet on the flop before eventually taking down a sizable pot.
But the player who lost the most, by a wide margin, was Perkins, who arrived a couple hours into the stream and quickly proceeded to lose chips. It wasn’t all bad for the hedge fund manager who graduated from the University of Iowa. He won a number of pots, including a $180,000 scoop with trips against the bluffing Charles Yu, who missed his straight draw.
There were more big pot losses for Perkins than wins, however. Take, for example, the following clip.
Perkins and Polk played many pots against each other, including a $117,000 hand on a board of 5♠10♥4♥9♥4♦. Polk, with J♥J♥, was able to extract $30,000 on the river as his opponent called with K♣10♦, top pair that was no good. The two hgh-profile poker players played an even bigger pot that also went Polk’s way.
In that hand, on a flop of 6♣Q♠A♦, Perkins checked his A♣8♦ before Polk, holding A♠6♠, bet $3,400 with two pair. Bulldog, on a gut-shot straight draw with K♦J♠, made the call, as did Perkins.
The 5♥ appeared on the turn, no help to any player. Bulldog again checked his draw, and Polk again bet out, this time for $20,500, just over the size of the pot. Bulldog decided he was done with the hand, but Perkins called to see a cooler A♥ on the river as it gave him trips and his opponent a full house.
Polk put Perkins all in for $132,000. He tank called only to lose the $322,400 pot. To his credit, Perkins ran bad most of the night and did make some solid plays, including a brilliant fold in a cooler hand on a board of K♥5♠Q♦K♠A♥ with K♦10♣ and $68,000 in the pot. Taras moved all in for $208,600 with A♣K♣ for a full house, better than trips. After tanking for a few minutes, Perkins concluded that “only Doug could bluff” in that spot, so he made the disciplined fold to save more than $200,000.
It just wasn’t his night, nor was it Polk’s.
