High Stakes Poker Returns to Form

Watch Dario Minieri get creative at the 4:00 mark

After three episodes that cast doubt on whether High Stakes Poker still had its mojo in Season 6, Episode 4 finally brought the series back to form thanks to highly creative play from some of the world’s top poker pros and a memorable side bet.

Dario Minieri was at the forefront of the action during Episode 4, taking on the role of preflop re-raiser on a number of occasions to grab more than his fair share of the $2.6 million in play. The young Italian pro was aggressive, but he wasn’t reckless. Instead he trusted his reads, and that strategy paid off; he was able to lay down his hand when Daniel Negreanu had pocket aces, but he also knocked Negreanu out of the pot when Kid Poker came in for a four-bet bluff on a later hand.

But Minieri’s most impressive play came against Gus Hansen in one of the episode’s biggest pots. Hansen opened for $3,500 holding A-8 offsuit in third position and when the action got to Minieri on the button the Italian decided to make the bet $11,500 with A-9 offsuit. Never one to back off easily, Hansen thought for a while before raising the bet further to $35,500. After about fifteen seconds Minieri then announced himself all-in for $213,100, putting the pressure back on Hansen. Eventually the Great Dane made the right move and ceded the pot.

There was plenty more interesting action throughout the episode, but the one thing everyone will be talking about today is the Phil Ivey vegetarian side bet. Ivey tried to get $2 million in action, even goading Dwan by telling him “I’ll be begging you to settle in four days,” but the two eventually settled on the price of $1 million for Ivey not to eat “anything that moves” for a year starting after the Aussie Millions. 

In the most interesting interviews yet for new co-host Kara Scott, Ivey told her he’d been thinking of going vegetarian for a while anyway while Dwan said he wouldn’t take Ivey’s side of the bet unless there were at least $3 million on the line.

Aside from the interviews, Gabe Kaplan’s jokes also seem to flow better than they have throughout the rest of the season. That’s probably a function of the fact that there’s a lot more action during Episode 4. If so, next week’s episode of High Stakes Poker should feature the best Kaplan commentary yet – the producers have let it slip that no fewer than four players will go busto in the next episode, and that Dwan and Ivey will play out an epic pot worth as much or more than the vegetarian side bet.