Aces Vs. Kings Vs. Kings: Mariano Scoops $788K Poker Pot on HCL

Jon Sofen
Senior Editor U.S.
3 min read
hustler casino live poker mariano

Poker vlogger Mariano won one of the most epic pots — a three-way all-in for stacks — late in Friday night's Hustler Casino Live stream.

It's been a magnificent month on the poker show from Hustler Casino in Los Angeles. On last Friday's stream, Ethan "Rampage" Yau obliterated Nikhil "Nik Airball" Arcot en route to a $523,000 profit. This week, it was Mariano who booked a $568,000 win before the cameras stopped rolling, most of it in one incredible hand.

The hand in question was reminiscent to the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event when Nic Manion won an enormous pot, busting one player, with pocket aces against two players holding pocket kings to force the start of the final table.

While the stakes weren't quite as high as the WSOP Main Event final table, and there wasn't a bracelet and world title on the line, the hand you're about to witness played out in a similar fashion.

Epic Poker Hand

The hand began with HCL regular Double M raising it up to $1,000 with KK from an early position, and then Dario, a newcomer to the stream, called $1,000 from the cutoff with QJ and Han did the same in the hijack with AQ. Yang, on the button, then made it $6,000 with KK, matching Double M's hand.

Mariano, in the straddle, looked down at AA and wasn't about to slow play the best starting hand in no-limit Texas hold'em, especially not out of position against a three-bet. Thus, he four-bet the preflop nuts to $16,000.

When action returned to Double M, he decided to just call. Han and Dario sent their cards into the muck, but Yang went for the five-bet to $55,000. Mariano, who had both players covered with about $305,000 behind, opted to sneakily call. That convinced Double M to move all in for $259,800.

Action was back on Yang and he had a difficult decision to make with $208,100 behind. He tanked for a bit before coming to the conclusion that folding pocket kings is never easy. After Yang called, Mariano snap-called and had both players in a world of hurt for a $788,400 pot. They all agreed to run it twice.

On the first run out, Mariano wrapped up at least half the pot when it came out 3953J, and then he collected the whole thing after seeing 107727 on board number two.

Hustler Casino Live has given the poker world some unreal hands over the past two years. The one featured in this article, save for the infamous J4 hand, might have been the most epic of them all, or at least in the top five.

top 5 hustler casino live hands of 2022

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Jon Sofen
Senior Editor U.S.

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