There are few people more synonymous with high-stakes poker than Andrew Robl. The veteran poker pro has $5.6 million in tournament cashes, almost all of which is comprised of events with buy-ins of $10,000 or more. The Michigan native is a fixture of the biggest cash games, and his $5.8 million in profit on televised and live streamed games is the most all time according to HighRoll Poker tracker.
At least, it was, until Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates tore apart the record book at the Onyx Poker Series in Cyprus.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that Robl won nearly $900,000 and his second Cash of the Titans title in August at the PokerGO studio on the Las Vegas Strip.
There have been three Cash of the Titans competitions overall, and Robl was in contention for the title all three times. In February 2023, Robl netted nearly $1.8 million to win the first running. At the end of 2024, Robl played a nearly $500,000 pot against Kristen Foxen on the final hand which would have given him his second title. He didn’t have to wait long for his redemption.
In the most recent iteration of the PokerGO event, Robl used a strong third day to win the competition. He netted $573,200 worth of profit, which came with an additional $300,000 payout for the title.
Cash of the Titans features a hybrid format that combines a cash game with a tournament. It’s technically a cash game where players are playing for real money, but there are escalating blinds.
The Rules
The competition features a three-day cash game with six, two-hour levels. The blinds start at $200-$300 with a $300 big blind ante and rise gradually to $500-$1,000 with a $1,000 big blind ante in the sixth level.
There is a $100,000 minimum buy-in, but players have two rebuy chips that can be used at any time. Once a player loses $300,000 total, they are eliminated from the game.
There are $525,000 worth of bonuses up for grabs funded by an additional $75,000 from each player. The day 1 winner gets a $75,000 bonus, the day 2 leader gets a $150,000 bonus, and the overall winner after day 3 gets $300,000.
But ultimately, it’s the players that set the rules, and these guys wanted more action. With chips flying into the middle, everyone agreed to up the rebuy cap to seven.
The Action
During the second level of the opening day, Andrew ‘Ace’ Pacheco was already all in preflop for $142,000 from the small blind against Robl on the button.
Pachecho tabled 10♥10♦ but was in bad shape against Robl’s Q♠Q♥. The board ran out clean for Robl and he scooped the pot to move over $600,000. Pacheco was only in for two bullets at the pointed, but he looked around the table at his competition and opted to save his rebuys and bow out from the tournament with a $200,000 loss.
The big pot meant that Robl was on the brink of winning the day 1 bonus, but Keating won a $534,600 pot on the penultimate hand of the day to seize the lead.
After several limps, Justin Gavri raised to $14,000 out of the small blind with Q♣J♣. All the limpers folded except for Keating, who called on the button with 10♣7♥. The flop was Q♠10♦7♣ and Gavri bet $15,000 with top pair. Keating raised to $45,000 with his bottom two pair, and Gavri moved all in for $253,000. Keating called and held on the 5♥ and 3♣ runout to overtake Robl’s profit margin by just $5,600.
Robl netted $219,000, but Keating’s stack jumped by $224,600 to edge out Robl for the bonus.
It was more of the same on day 2. Keating and Robl once again led the way, with two more players in Kirk Brown and Darin Feinstein hitting the rail and calling it quits. Keating did most of the damage, ending the day up $685,900 to net the $150,000 bonus, while Robl added another six-figure profit to bring his two-day total to $362,200.
Meanwhile, the only two other players left at the table were also in the black, with Gavri and Shawn Madden sitting on profit in the low six-figures.
The title was Keating’s for the taking, but a rough start to day 3 saw him lose most of his profits, allowing Madden to enter the race for the overall title. Madden was all in for $162,000 with A♠K♠ on a flop of A♦Q♦J♣ against Keating’s K♦4♦. Keating needed a diamond to scoop and a 10 to chop, but the turn and river were bricks, giving Madden a huge double up and a small chance at the overall title. Even Gavri momentarily came from behind, making it a four-player race.
The final 60 minutes of the session belonged to Robl, however. He gradually chipped up, moved over the $1 million mark and then hammered his opponents with relentless pressure to finish the day with nearly $1.3 million in front of him, having bought in for a total of $700,000. It was just enough to make him the overall winner and nab the $300,000 bonus.
Final Profit
Andrew Robl – $573,200 + $300,000 bonus
Alan Keating – $335,800 + $225,000 in bonuses
Shawn Madden – $249,200
Justin Gavri – $128,700
- Photos by PokerGO