Top Streamed Hands of the Week: Garrett Adelstein Makes His Return on Poker at the Lodge

Last week was a very special one for poker in Texas, as Doug Polk’s card room, The Lodge, reopened its doors to the public and welcomed the players back to the tables. 

Following a couple of months of uncertainty surrounding the pending charges against the poker room, The Lodge won its legal battle and came out the other side with a clean slate. 

Polk and the rest of the crew rushed to relaunch Poker at the Lodge, one of the top live poker streams in the world, and they were able to put together one of the most epic lineups of all time to mark the special occasion. 

The likes of Alan Keating, Taras, Senor Tilt, and Doug Polk himself were joined by none other than Garrett Adelstein, a player who made his fair share of headlines in the poker media over the years, not the least of which was the infamous J4 hand played with Robbi Jade Lew a few years back. 

As expected, the game brought a ton of action, and it wasn’t the only big game on stream last week either, as Triton Poker brought its high rollers together for a round of nosebleeds.

For all of you who missed the action, here is a rundown of a few of the most interesting hands that went down, featuring some of the most prominent names in the game. 

Mr. Keating Gets Curious

Alan Keating was one of the big stars of last week’s big relaunch show on Poker at the Lodge, and he came out the other side as the big winner, taking home just over $1,000,000 in profit. 

Yet, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Alan, as he faced off with Doug Polk in the biggest pot of the night and was put to a very tough decision. 

The hand started with a $1,600 straddle by Keating. Doug opened to $8k from the small blind holding 8♦5♦, Jasper called with A♠9♥, and Alan opted to just call with his A♥Q♠, which could have easily been a squeeze. 

Instead, the three players went to a flop of K♣Q♥5♣, which gave both Alan and Doug a pair. Doug c-bet for $16k, Jasper got out of the way, and Alan made the call. 

With $56,800 in the pot, the dealer revealed the 8♥ turn card, which improved Polk to two pair. This time, he bet $85k for value, and Keating made the call off of his $2 million chip stack. 

The river card was the 3♣, completing a potential flush. Yet, Doug seemed undeterred, as he moved all-in for $213k, which was just about a pot-sized bet. 

When he faded a snap-call, Polk could rest easy, knowing he very likely had the best hand. All that remained now was for Keating to make the call with the worst of it. 

Holding just the second pair to the board, Alan could not beat much. Yet, he was also aware that Polk is more than capable of turning a hand like J♥10♥ into a three-street bluff. 

In the end, curiosity got the best of Mr. Keating, who made the call and took the beat in stride, moved on, and ended up being the biggest winner of the night despite losing the $652k pot against Polk, who also ended the game with $95k in profit. 

Adelstein Faces Off with a Lodge Legend

Garrett Adelstein’s return to the green felt may have been the big story of the week, but he was far from the only player fans wanted to watch. One of the players in the mix was Taras, a Lodge legend who made his name by playing some fearless poker in the most memorable games ever played on the stream. 

The two clashed in a big pot about five hours into the stream, as Taras bumped the action up to $1,500 with A♦K♠ following a couple of limps. 

EZ made the call with his 8♣8♦, Keating came along for the ride holding 8♠7♠, and Garrett put on the squeeze holding 7♥5♥, making it $13k to go. 

Knowing Adelstein’s reputation, Taras went for another raise, but possibly made it a bit too small, as he re-raised to $27.5k, incentivizing Adelstein to make the call with his drawing hand. 

Luckily for Taras, the flop was K♣J♠4♥, which gave him quite a monster. Garrett checked, and Taras decided to get fancy, checking back his top pair. 

The 6♦ on the turn improved Garrett’s hand to a straight draw. He led out for $30k this time around, and Taras once again took the fancy route by just calling the bet and not protecting his hand. 

Taras got punished for the fancy play on the river, as the 3♦ rolled off, completing the nut straight for Adelstein. There was about $120k in the pot, and Taras had $173k in his stack, which meant Adelstein would go for a classic overbet shove on the river. 

Adelstein did move all-in, and Taras agonized for a few seconds before making the call. The table was slightly taken aback by the exact hand that Garrett showed, but the truth is, he didn’t have to do much to get there, as Taras let him off the hook every step of the way. 

Despite winning this hand, Adelstein ended the game losing $13k, which can be considered a break-even result in this game, while Taras dropped over $550k on the session for one of the worst beats in his career. 

Triton High Rollers Butt Heads 

As part of its big Super High Roller Series in Montenegro, Triton Poker streamed a live cash game featuring the likes of Rui Cao, Andrew Robl, and Paul Phua. 

The stakes were astronomically high, with blinds at $1k/$1k, and a $5k ante bet, but the game ended up playing smaller than expected, with no seven-figure winners in the end. 

Yet, the table produced quite a bit of action, with two of the Asian Triton high rollers leading the charge and playing the biggest pots. 

One of the most interesting hands started with limps from Jason Koon and Alejandro Lococo, before Wang Ye raised it up to $11k holding A♦J♥. Next to act, Chan Wai Leong re-raised to $37k holding Q♣Q♥, and Ye made the call. 

The flop was 10♥8♠6♣, and Leong’s hand remained good. Ye opted to check-call a bet of $25k, which meant he probably had some ideas on how he could steal the pot on later streets. 

The turn 9♠ gave Ye some extra hope, as his hand turned into a straight draw. This time around, he came out firing for $65k, and Leong was the one making the call. 

The final card was the 6♦, which improved Leong’s hand to two pair and allowed him to beat combos like T9, 98, and T8, all of which were possible on the turn. 

Holding just Ace-high, Ye knew he had to bet again if he was to have any hope of winning the pot, so he made it a massive $185k to go. 

With pocket Queens, Leong had a fairly easy decision on his hands, so he called within a few seconds, and Ye’s hand hit the muck. 

Leong won this $633k pot, and it propelled him to become the game’s biggest winner. He took home $557 in profit, followed by Paul Phua, who also profited $397k in the game. 

Andrew Robl and Sameh Elamawy were the two players on the other end of the spectrum, both losing over $320k for the session.