Best Online Poker Bonuses
Best Casino Bonuses
Poker Training
Newsletter and Magazine

Sign Up

Find Your Local Card Room
Home : Poker News : Million Dollar Game: Texas Mike Crushes Day 1

Million Dollar Game: Texas Mike Crushes Day 1

Over $10 Million On The Table At Hustler Casino Live

by Julio Rodriguez | Published: Apr 29, 2025 | E-mail Author

The third iteration of the Million Dollar Game from Hustler Casino Live featured eight players, each putting up the seven-figure buy-in required to participate. By the end of the eight-hour session there was more than $10 million in play.

The big winner of the evening was ‘Texas’ Mike Moncek, who racked up with an impressive $1.55 million in profit.

The Chicago amateur, who was profiled in the latest issue of Card Player, used a relentless barrage of aggression and overbets to take big chunks out of his opponents. The businessman-turned-high roller played a whopping 85% of his hands, crushing his nearest competitors by nearly 30% VPIP.

His fearless play was on full display, putting $1.5 million in the middle with A-K and forcing his opponents to fold A-K and pocket jacks. Moncek was able to pocket $350,000 without even seeing the flop.

It was clear that Moncek was enjoying himself much more than last year, when he lost a $2.2 million flip to Alan Keating. This time around he was able to even laugh it off when Keating bluffed him off trips with four high in a $530,000 pot.

It was a bold bluff for Keating, who had already dusted off his initial million in the hand of the night against longtime rival Peter Wang.

Wang, who was last year’s big winner in the Million Dollar Game, has battled with Keating on several poker streams and in various venues. Wang had recently taken the worst of it on PokerGO, getting his huge bluffs picked off while also losing the biggest pot in High Stakes Poker history, shipping $1.4 million to Keating.

Their most recent skirmish involved a third player, Jack, who got caught in the middle of a leveling war and was forced to fold the best hand. Keating had gotten out of line with queen high, but his massive shove on the river looked like it was going to work before Wang found an incredibly tough call.

Wang locked it up for the most part after that early double, irking some viewers with his frequent breaks from the table. After giving some back over the last few hours of play, he finished the session up $700,000.

Keating, meanwhile, had a lot of work to do to recover from his seven-figure misstep. After reloading for another million, the normally talkative high roller brooded quietly for a couple of hours as he went card dead and withstood Moncek’s relentless action on his immediate right.

The comeback began when he took down a $1.46 million pot from Jack with the nut flush against trips. Jack would later give him the rest of his stack before quitting the game, temporarily.

Keating then busted Pav, and when Jack returned with another $500,000, he took that too. Despite starting the game down a full buy-in, Keating bided his time and not only got back to even, but he profited a cool $451,000.

Erick Lindgren made the trip to Los Angeles with $25,000, and somehow parlayed that into $1.28 million. The two-time bracelet winner came out of the satellite on Sunday, earning his seat into the big game.

The only catch was that he had to risk his million for at least eight hours. Many speculated that he would play tight and try to lock up profit, especially with the two most aggressive players on his direct left. That wasn’t the case at all as he was frequently involved in six-figure altercations.

Although it took him a bit of time to get his bearings, he was able to bob and weave enough to finish with a nearly $300,000 profit on the session. The highlight was when he picked off a bluff from Steve Swedlow, a former high-profile lawyer and now judge who likes to incorporate table talk into his game.

Swedlow finished the night down $931,000, the majority of which came after losing a big pot to Jack with a pair and a flush draw against his aces. He was able to regain some ground and take from Moncek in an interesting hand, but ultimately couldn’t talk his way completely out of the hole.

Despite only playing a couple of orbits to end the evening, Nihil ‘Airball’ Arcot entered the game and managed to win a cool $430,000, mostly from holding aces over Peter’s queens.

The Million Dollar Game continues on Hustler Casino Live on Tuesday at 4 p.m. PT.

*Photos – Hustler Casino

Related Articles
WATCH: Alan Keating Plays Poker With Warriors During Luka Doncic Trade
Poker Legend Phil Hellmuth Watches Son Net Career-Best Score
Anonymous Poker Player Has $1 Million Upswing At CoinPoker

Tags: WATCH,   Cash Game,   Million Dollar Game,   Hustler Casino Live,   High Stakes,   Big Pot,   Mike Moncek,   Texas Mike,   Alan Keating,   Nik Airball,   Nikhil Arcot,   Peter Wang,   Erick Lindgren

Most Viewed Articles