The Gutsiest Hand In High Stakes Poker History

With an incredibly loose and ultra-aggressive playing style, Alan Keating is one of the most entertaining players to watch at the table.

“I want to put the pedal to the metal, and play the game how I feel it’s meant to be played,” Keating has said.

Luckily for poker fans, he’s a regular in some of the biggest live-streamed cash games on the planet. In a recent episode of PokerGO’s High Stakes Poker, Keating treated those fans to another memorable moment.

The action opened with Steve Swedlow raising to $1,400 from the cutoff with 8 6. Peter Wang called behind him on the button with 6 3, and Keating called from the big blind with 9 7.

The three players took a flop of A K 7 and Keating checked from the big blind. Despite holding eight high, Swedlow continued with a bet of $4,000. Wang responded with a raise to $13,000 with his flush draw.

Sitting with bottom pair, Keating decided to check-raise to $41,000, getting Swedlow to fold. Wang called.

Despite having just bottom pair, Keating was a 62% favorite to win the hand, according to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator.

The turn produced the 6, giving Wang a pair but still leaving him behind. Keating’s odds increased to 68% and he contemplated his options before firing in a bet of $58,000.

Wang thought for a while before raising to $175,000. Although that would have normally ended things, Keating somehow made the call, bringing the pot to more than $440,000.

“This is really something else from this guy,” said High Stakes Poker commentator Nick Schulman. “Say what you want, but this is somewhat outstanding from Keating.”

The river brought the 4 and Keating checked. That quickly brought an all-in from Wang, who had missed his flush draw.

Keating then went into the tank, facing a decision for his remaining $235,000.

“This might be the best or worst played hand of all time,” Keating said, echoing the show’s commentary.

Would he make a hero call with third pair facing the possibility his opponent had an ace, king, a set, or two pair? The answer is yes. He eventually threw the chips in the middle and dragged a pot of $911,000.

“This guy is a special talent,” Schulman said of the unlikely call. “That was wild!”

Monster pot alert! @Mister_Keating faces maximum pressure from Peter in tonight’s episode of High Stakes Poker.

All seasons available on https://t.co/2RQh5ROjQG. Use code HSP14 for $20 off your first year.

What a freakin’ hand! pic.twitter.com/et7vZImS8X

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 25, 2025

Keating Explains His Thought Process

This becomes just the latest clash between these two high-stakes players. In a previous hand during the session, Keating was able to get a bluff through which paid off to the tune of more than $287,000.

Wang has still gotten the better of Keating overall, including pots at Hustler Casino Live’s Million Dollar Game worth $2 million and $1.6 million, respectively. That history appeared to be key to explaining Keating’s thought process, which he revealed on his YouTube page a week later.

The Michigan native, who says he grew up watching High Stakes Poker on TV, pointed out that his opponent had earned the nickname ‘Peter the Conqueror’ for his aggressive play. Wang has been seen on stream making huge calls with weak hands while also running multi-street bluffs for large piles of cash.

Keating said the table “could feel the tension growing” between the two players before the hand went down.

“Everything to this point. The buildup, the anticipation, the fighting, the back-and-forth, led to that hand,” said Keating.

Keating’s explanation was that he didn’t think Wang could have much, so he would just three-bet the flop and win immediately.

“What can he have here?” said Keating in the video. “I have a seven. So, maybe if I just raise I can just win the hand on the spot.”

But once Wang’s aggression came on the turn and river, Keating said he just didn’t believe him.

“With as much raising as he had done [in the game], he still hadn’t convinced me that he had me beat,” he reasoned.

“The best part of that whole thing was waiting to show my hand,” Keating added. “I’m probably going to show it to my grandkids.”

Player Reaction

The hand quickly went viral on social media, with pros saying the call was everything from “sick” to “insane” while giving Keating his props.

It was even analyzed by other top pros. Matt Berkey and Landon Tice broke it down on the Solve For Why podcast, saying that the hand came down to two key points – preflop and the turn.

“I think the fact that Peter flatted [a raise] pre helps him sus this out a lot,” said Berkey.

In other words, Wang’s preflop call eliminates him from having the strongest hands on that flop, such as A-A, K-K, A-K, and 7-7. It drastically reduces the number of possible value hands Wang could have down to something like K-7 and A-7. Since Keating has the 7 in his hand, the number of value combinations are reduced even further which weights the range towards draws as opposed to value hands.

A X is still a possibility, but in their opinion, the likelihood of top pair with the nut flush draw was drastically reduced when Wang raised the turn.

“I just think the turn raise is nonsense,” said Tice.

“He just never has anything,” added Berkey.

“A-X of spades can easily raise the flop in position and call the three-bet,” said Tice. “But when you face the turn bet, you aren’t thinking, ‘Oh, my ace is good, it’s time to funnel more money in.’ It’s more like, ‘I want to make a flush so I’m going to call.’”

“I think Keating might be a low-key gangster genius,” Berkey concluded.

Keating has appeared on other poker shows like No Gamble No Future and Poker After Dark. The 38-year-old investor is down more than $2 million in those appearances, however, according to the latest update on HighRollPoker.com.

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