Tom Dwan won the largest poker pot ever in a televised or livestreamed game this week. The 36-year-old — who worked for McDonald’s prior to becoming a professional poker player — raked in $3.1 million during Hustler Casino Live’s Million Dollar Game early Wednesday morning.
Dwan scored the record pot with pocket queens against self-proclaimed cryptocurrency millionaire Wesley Fei, 31, who was bluffing.
Tom Dwan makes the call, against Wesley Fei, that wins him the biggest pot in broadcast poker history at Hustler Casino Live in LA. (Image: HCL)
This was a no-limit Texas hold ’em cash game with a $1 million minimum buy-in, so the pot size wasn’t a shocker. But the record-breaking hand generated lots of head-scratching at the table.
Fei had $2.8 million when it began, to Dwan’s $1.5 million. They were playing with $500 and $1K blinds plus an escalating big-blind ante that had grown to $3K. Dwan also contributed a voluntary $2K third blind called a straddle. So $6,500 was in the pot before any of the eight players saw their hands.
I See You
Doug Polk, seated to Wei’s left, complicated matters. The three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner declared that he saw Fei’s cards. Fei was the last to act pre-flop. A newcomer named LSG Hank raised ahead of Fei to $7K, but when Fei looked down to see Ace-King offsuit — one of the strongest pre-flop hands in poker — he bumped it to $30K, despite Polk supposedly knowing his cards.
At this point, Polk folded. Dwan — whose pair of queens were not picked up by the card reader — raised to $100K, causing LSG Hank to fold. Fei then raised to $275K and Dwan called. With $562K at play, the pair saw a flop that helped no one (3 of diamonds, 8 of spades, 8 of diamonds).
Dwan checked, causing Fei to bet $125K, escalating the pot to $812K and rendering the previously chatty table silent. Dwan called. The turn also helped neither player. Dwan checked.
River Deep, Mountain of Chips High
“Wesley’s hands are shaking,” announcer David Tuchman said. “He is loading up for another bet.”
That bet was $350K and Dwan, without much hesitation, called it. The river didn’t help either player. Dwan again checked to Fei, causing him to go all-in.
This time, Dwan hesitated. He stood up, grabbed a bottle of water, and began going over the hand out loud as he faced a bet for his entire stack of $786,000.
“So Doug saw his hand,” he said. “This is a weird f***ing hand. Doug saw his hand, tried to talk him out of three-betting, he three-bet anyway,” Dwan said, while staring at Polk. “I mean, I guessed he flopped an eight, but it seems very hard to fold.”
After nearly four minutes, Dwan threw a stack of chips in the pot to make the call that won him the biggest pot in broadcast poker history.
“Ohh,” Fei said as more than $1.5 million of his chips changed ownership. “Can’t bluff Tom.”
Game Not Over
The record-shattering hand was only one of several big pots in the game that started at 3 p.m. PT Tuesday and went until nearly 4 a.m. Wednesday. Eventually, Fei won a big chunk of his money back on what turned out to be the second-largest hand in broadcast poker history, $2.25 million, which he won by turning three-of-a-kind to beat LSG Hang’s pair of queens.
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