Guy Loses 1 Million Dollars Poker

  

Did former poker organizer Molly Bloom witness the biggest gambling loss ever?

Aug 14, 2017  Winning and losing millions playing poker with Elton Tsang (part 1). Have won and lost are over hundred million Hong Kong dollars (USD$12.7m). How about this guy? In May, poker playboy Dan Bilzerian made headlines for throwing a naked porn star off a roof into a pool, only to have said porn star clip her foot and injure it, resulting in legal action. Now, Bilzerian is back in the news, t.

The film adaptation of Bloom’s 2014 memoir hit U.S. theaters on Christmas Day, and to promote the project Bloom has been making her interview rounds. In a recent chat with Ellen DeGeneres, Bloom revealed the biggest poker loss she ever saw first-hand.

“I saw someone lose $100 million in a night,” Bloom told DeGeneres.

“$100 million?” DeGeneres asked incredulously.

“$100 million,” said Bloom, “and he paid the next day.”

Bloom said the buy-in for her most expensive and exclusive games, which ran in L.A. and later New York City, was $250,000. That was presumably the minimum buy-in. According to Bloom, it wasn’t unheard of for someone to lose an entire buy-in in the first few hands of the evening.

“This game was populated by some of the world’s most famous, wealthiest, and most powerful men,” she said in a Business Insider interview. “My regular game in New York City was a $250,000 buy-in, no limit. So people were burning through that, a lot of times in the first 30 minutes.”

The $100 million loss raised a lot of red flags for her. The game, which took a rake, eventually fell into the cross-hairs of federal prosecutors in the early 2010s.

“When you watch that, as an owner-operator of a game, you realize that these numbers are incredibly unsustainable, incredibly unhealthy,” Bloom recounted. “So, I was not happy about this loss. It brought me no joy or adrenaline. I recognized it as really unhealthy and unsustainable.”

Celebrities in her games, which kicked off around the height of the poker boom in the mid-2000s, included Alex Rodriguez, Dan Bilzerian, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Toby Maguire and Nick Cassavetes, as well as billionaires such as Alec Gores and Andy Beal.

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Beal, as the poker community knows, etched his name into poker history thanks to his losses between 2004-2006 against the “Corporation,” which was a group of bankroll-pooling poker players that included the likes of Phil Ivey, Jennifer Harman, Doyle and Todd Brunson. Beal lost more than $16 million alone in a heads-up match versus Ivey.

Bloom took a plea deal and received probation in 2014 for her poker games, which were linked to a wider illegal gambling operation involving Russian organized crime. A lawyer for the former Olympic-class skier said she profited $1 million for her work hosting the games.

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That’s a pretty small sum considering the amount of money exchanging hands.

None of the aforementioned celebrities and businessmen were accused of any wrongdoing. However, Maguire was sued in 2011 over his winnings in the game, because one of the game’s participants, businessman Brad Ruderman, was orchestrating a Ponzi scheme. The government said that Ruderman lost about $25 million of investor money in the poker games.

1 Million Dollars Cash

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Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith was the executioner of “Face the Ace” contestant Don Topel on Saturday night in the $1 million match; Topel walked away with nothing. The NBC poker show returns on September 12th.

A spoiler posted on Poker News Daily last week stated that Topel picked the door marked with the ace of clubs, which turned out to be Gavin Smith. Sure enough, Topel selected the ace of clubs and the World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year during Season 4 strolled out. On his opponent for the monumental $1 million match, Topel commented, “I like Gavin. I like the way he plays. We’re one in the same. I’m expecting a tough match.” Blinds began at 2,000-4,000, with Topel and Smith starting with stacks of 500,000.

One

Smaller pots between Smith and Topel characterized play in the early going. In one hand, Topel picked up pocket queens and raised to 30,000. Smith looked down at Q-10 and made the call. The flop came 10-8-K and the action went check-check. An ace hit the turn, a scare card for Topel’s queens, and the action once again went check-check. The river was a seven. Smith led out for 35,000 and Topel remarked that he thought the Full Tilt pro had a pair of 10s and made the call. “Face the Ace” commentator Ali Nejad called the move “a great read and a terrific play.”

Topel folded 2-9 pre-flop in a hand where Smith held pocket kings to avoid disaster. However, the Canadian sensation made his stand shortly thereafter. Topel picked up Q-9 pre-flop and called, while Smith checked his option with Q-10. The flop came 5-Q-10, giving Smith top two pair and the challenger top pair. Smith checked, Topel bet 15,000, Smith put in a check-raise to 43,000, and Topel called. The turn was a three, leaving Topel drawing dead. Smith led out for 86,000 and Topel quickly released his hand. Smith asked whether Topel wanted to see one or both of his cards and flipped up the winning hand.

An segue to commercial called Smith a “dream crusher,” a title he held true to after putting Topel all-in with A-6 against K-5. Nejad came to the table to explain the situation as “Face the Ace” host and former “Sopranos” star Steve Schirripa watched intently. The flop came A-3-4, leaving Smith as an 82% favorite to win the hand. A nine on the turn and four on the river didn’t change the situation and Topel departed with nothing. On his opponent, Smith commented, “I think he played great. I got hit on the head with the deck. I wouldn’t miss. If you always have the best hand, it’s hard to lose.” Topel defeated Erick Lindgren and Howard Lederer last week to set up Saturday’s match against Smith.

Marcia Owens was the third contestant to take to the felts on “Face the Ace.” An ER nurse from Troy, Illinois who played poker live and online, Owens selected the ace of diamonds, Gus Hansen. By the way, Hansen was voted one of People Magazine’s sexiest men of the year in 2004, something new I learned today. In the defining moment of the $40,000 match, the overly star-struck contestant put in min-raise with A-10 against Hansen’s pocket tens pre-flop. The flop came 3-3-10 and the action went check-check. The turn came a six and Owens bet 4,000. Hansen made the call with a boat and the river was an ace, improving Owens to aces-up. Owens bet 4,000, Hansen made it 10,000, and Owens called, leaving herself with just three big blinds.

After a double-up with A-8 against Hansen’s pocket fives, Owens was all-in with Q-8 against Hansen’s A-4. The flop came K-6-6, leaving Owens calling for a queen or an eight. However, the turn and river fell a nine and six, respectively, giving the $40,000 match to “The Great Dane.”

“Face the Ace” will now take a one month hiatus, returning to fill an afternoon timeslot on September 12th at 2:00pm ET. Here’s a look at the remaining schedule for NBC’s “Face the Ace”:

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September 12th, 2009 – 2:00pm ET
October 31st, 2009 – 3:30pm ET
November 14th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
December 12th, 2009 – 3:00pm ET
January 2nd, 2010 – 2:30pm ET