$4,260,000 in the middle — and the aggressor didn't even have a pair. Monday's High Stakes Poker delivered the largest pot in the show's history, and the biggest ever on any televised or streamed cash game: Michael "Texas Mike" Moncek turned ten high into a three-street bluff plus all-in, and Eric Wasserson called it off with a flush.
The facts: three barrels and a $1.6 million shove
It started quietly. Wasserson opened to $20,000 with 9♦7♦ and called an $80,000 three-bet from Moncek, who held 10♣7♣ on the button. The 9♣K♦A♦ flop missed Texas Mike entirely, but he kept the pressure on with a $100,000 bet; Wasserson, holding a pair of nines and a flush draw, called. The 4♥ turn changed nothing and Moncek barreled again — $330,000. Another call.
The 5♦ river completed Wasserson's flush, and then came the moment: with over $1.6 million effective behind and the pot already past $1 million, Moncek — ten high, no connection to the board — moved all in. Wasserson tanked, ruled out a bigger flush, and called to drag $4,260,000.
The previous record had lasted one weekend. Wasserson himself had just won a $2,478,000 pot against Andrew Robl, which in turn edged Santhosh Suvarna's $2,421,500 from Season 16. And on the very next hand, Texas Mike struck back: pocket kings against Robl's ace-king for $2,337,000.
Why it matters: the math behind the hero call
Strip out the millions and it's a textbook spot. Wasserson held a premium bluff catcher: a flush with 9♦7♦ on an A♦K♦5♦ board, losing only to two higher diamonds. Facing the shove, he needed to be good roughly 38% of the time for the call to print — and Moncek's credible range (three-bet pre, three barrels, river overbet) contained bigger flushes, yes, but also every busted draw of a hyper-aggressive player. Against that profile, the medium flush calls.
Moncek's side carries the harsher lesson: bluffing for enormous sums with no equity and no blockers to the flush — he held zero diamonds — is aggressive consistency taken to its limit. At these stakes that style creates giant pots in both directions; at yours, 100 big blinds deep, the story you tell street by street matters more than the size of the final bet.
Would you call that shove with a nine-high flush? Break it down with us in the community — historic hands make the best study material.