Largest Televised Cash Game in History With €1 Million Buy-in Held in Montenegro; Kane Kalas & Jason Koon Win Huge Pots

Bets went high and there was some real high-octane action at the poker felts on Thursday while the HK$1,000,000 Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro Main Event was going on. Stealing the thunder from the Main Event however, was a €1 Million buy-incash game that started mid-way through the event and witnessed some of the biggest seven figure pots being played out. So much so that the cash game went on to become the largest televised cash game witnessed in poker history.

Poker fans tuned into the popular streaming service Twitch TV to watch poker heavyweights like Tom Dwan, Dan Cates and Phil Ivey hammer through the high stakes HK$1,000,000 Main Event. As the play approached to the level when only ten players were left, Twitch moved its telecast to the feature table i.e. the €1 Million buy-incash game.

The blinds started from €1,000/€2,000 with a running ante of €1,000 but soon it gathered steam and the stakes were increased to €2,000/€4,000 and even reached as high as €2,000/€4,000 with a €10,000 running ante!

Known high stakes players like Guy Laliberte, David Benyamine, Patrik Antonius, Rui Cao, Elton Tsang, Jason Koon, Wang Qiang, Zuo Wang, Mikita Badziakouski, Gabe Patgorski, Kane Kalas and Randy Lew were some of the notables who were seen in action.

The largest pots were played one after the other and Jason Koon lost the first one, a €1.8 Million pot to Kane Kalas and in the very next hand, he won a massive €2 Million pot.

The first of these ‘star’ pots started after Paul Phua straddled to €8,000, Koon raised holding and Badziakouski called with from the small blind. Kalas woke up with in the big blind and decided to squeeze for €55,000. Phua folded and Koon re-raised to €120,000 which got the call hiking the pot to €263,000. The flop was and Koon led out for a €128,000 continuation bet and Kala tank-called. The turn gave Kalas top set and he checked only to see his opponent put in €160,000. On the river , Kalas checked and Koon moved all-in for €500,000. This was the moment Kalas was waiting for and he snap called to win the huge pot amounting to €1.8 Million.

The second biggest pot came right after and it was Koon who rode strong this time and won a little over €2 million from Elton Tsang. After Kalas won the first major pot, Koon who was left with €800,000, reloaded for an additional €1 Million. Koon raised to €13,000 holding and Phua called with . Dwan called from the button with his and Tsang called from the big blind with . The flop came down , Tsang hit the bottom pair and backdoor diamond draw and Koon had an open ended straight flush draw. Phua hit the middle pair and Dwan hit the top pair. The pot was already €64,000 when Dwan bet €24,000, Tsang called and then Koon check-raised the pot to €100,000. Dwan folded, Tsang re-raised to €324,000 and Koon called. The turn brought the nut flush draw for Tsang’s bottom pair and he bet €390,000. Koon called swelling the pot to €1,1516,000. The river brought the and with that, Koon hit his straight. Tsang checked, Koon raised the pot to €2,090,000, prompting a fold from Tsang.

Overall Kalas came out as the biggest winner with a total profit of €771,000. Phua cashed €433,000 and Koon cashed for €186,000. Other noteworthy scores were, Dwan (+€176,000), Cao (+€241,000), Antonius (+€101,000).

Ivey lost close to €717,000 and Tsang lost €582,000. Cates, Qiang, Wang and Badziakouski also booked a loss.