Nik Airball Picks the Wrong Time to Play for Stacks on High Stakes Poker ... Or Does He?

Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Sep 30, 2024 5 min read

Good and Bad Start for Humboldt Mike
Bluff of the Season?
Nik Airball Needs a Heart
Wasn't Tilly's Night
Past High Stakes Poker Season 13 Episode Recaps

Nikhil "Nik Airball" Arcot was in search of a lucky river card just to chop a $716,000 pot against Andrew Robl, while Jennifer Tilly couldn't catch a break on the newest edition of High Stakes Poker on PokerGO.

Episode 8 of Season 13 featured a monster bluff — one of the best in High Stakes Poker history — and multiple pots that cracked $500,000. Every player made their presence felt during Monday's episode, which isn't often the case when each show is crammed into just 45 minutes of play.

There were eight players in the game and over $2.5 million on the table when the cameras began rolling, a huge spike compared to last week's episode. The same players from Episode 7 returned to action this week, including Robl, Nik Airball, Tilly, Brandon Steven, Stanley Tang, Sameh Elamawy, Humboldt Mike, and Justin Gavri. Here's a look at the starting stacks as shown on PokerGO.

Player	Chip Stack
Nik Airball	$490,000
Andrew Robl	$411,500
Brandon Steven	$409,000
Stanley Tang	$372,500
Sameh Elamawy	$362,000
Humboldt Mike	$336,500
Justin Gavri	$257,000
Jennifer Tilly	$211,000

Good and Bad Start for Humboldt Mike

Humboldt Mike High Stakes Poker — Humboldt Mike

Episode 8 began with a three-bet and five players to the flop of A♦Q♣K♦. Robl bet $12,000 with A♠5♠ before having to fold to Humboldt Mike's raise to $50,000 with A♥Q♠ for two pair.

The next hand was less kind to Mike, who infamously triggered Phil Hellmuth to a point where the "Poker Brat" just up and left the game out of anger on No Gamble, No Future a few months back.

Elamawy started the action by raising to $3,000 with K♦Q♣. Four players called — Mike with A♦K♥, Tilly with 9♠8♥, Nik Airball with A♥Q♥, and Steven on the button with 5♠2♣. The flop came out Q♦K♣Q♠ and Airball bet $5,000 with trips and an ace kicker. The preflop raiser, who had everyone in deep trouble, just called, attempting to disguise his full house.

Mike, who was under-repped with Big Slick, also made the call to see the 8♦ on the turn. Action checked to Airball who bet $21,000, still with no reason to believe his monster hand was beat. Both players called and then the pot ballooned following the uneventful 4♥ river. Elamawy bet $25,000, forcing Mike to make a wise fold. But Airball raised it to $100,000 only to correctly fold to an all in re-raise to $328,000.

Humboldt Mike Puts Phil Hellmuth on Serious Tilt

Bluff of the Season?

It's not just the monster hands that make High Stakes Poker such an iconic poker show — it's also about the bluffs. And there was an epic bluff that transpired during Episode 8, and it will go down as one of the best in the show's 13-year history.

Action began with Robl raising to $3,000 with 6♠6♣. Elamawy, holding K♦Q♦, called, as did Humboldt Mike with K♣3♣ and Tilly on the button with A♦9♣. Gavri, in the big blind with 10♠10♣, three-bet it to $21,000, and all previously mentioned players called and saw a flop of 5♠4♦A♥.

Tilly was the only player who should have liked that flop much, and even her top pair hand couldn't have felt too strong given there were four others in the pot. Still, after action folded around to the Hollywood actress, she bet $25,000. But that didn't thin the herd much as Elamawy and Mike both made some interesting calls.

The turn was the 8♥ and all three players checked to the Q♣ on the river. Mike, with $181,500 in the pot, made a gutsy move, betting $210,000 with king-high. Tilly was in a tough spot with top pair and a weak kicker, and she opted to fold what was actually the best hand by a wide margin. Elamawy, of course, couldn't look his opponent up with just second pair facing such a massive bet, which meant Mike took down the $391,500 pot with diddly squat.

Nik Airball Needs a Heart

One of the biggest hands of Season 13 played out during this week's episode, and of course Nik Airball was involved. The hand we're referring to opened with Robl making it $6,000 with K♠K♣ and receiving a call from Tilly, who had 8♣7♦ on the button.

Airball, like Robl, also had a real hand — A♦K♦ — so he popped it to $45,000. Robl then four-bet to $135,000, making the fold an easy decision for Tilly. But Airball, well behind the original raiser, moved all in for $353,000 and his opponent snap-called with a bigger stack and a better hand. Both players agreed to run the board twice.

The first board came out 2♠Q♣J♣3♦3♣, ensuring that Robl would claim at least half the pot. But the second run-out started out 4♥Q♥K♥10♥, giving Airball some half-pot chop outs (any heart) or to win half the entire pot (non-heart jack). The river, however, was the 9♣, no help to Big Slick, which meant Robl scooped the entire $716,000 pot.

Wasn't Tilly's Night

Sometimes, it just isn't your night at the poker table. Things didn't go Tilly's way during the newest episode of High Stakes Poker. She lost a monster pot with ace-queen, betting $50,000 on the flop with ace-high, but was bluffed off the hand by Steven, who had a weaker ace but with a straight draw.

Tilly then ran into a tough one on the final hand of the episode. Steven opened to $3,000 with 4♠4♣ and received three calls — Gavri with J♦2♦, Tang with Q♠10♣, and Tilly in the small blind with A♥10♦. The flop showed J♥9♣7♦, which convinced Tang, after action checked around to him, to bet $10,000 with an open-ended straight draw.

Tilly, who technically had a better hand than Tang, called. But Gavri, who hit top pair and had everyone beat at the time, made the call while Steven folded. The 8♦ on the turn was perhaps the juiciest card imaginable. Action checked to Tang who hit the nuts. He bet $40,000 before Tilly, who turned an inferior straight, moved all in for $96,000. Gavri folded top pair with a flush draw before Tang snap-called.

Only a 10 on the river could save Tilly and allow her to chop the $244,000 pot. But the A♦ wasn't enough, and the DoorDash food delivery app co-founder reeled in all the chips. Gavri, coincidentally, would have won the hand with a flush on the river had he called the all in bet on the turn. Hindsight is always 20/20.