The final table of the $10,000 no-limit hold’em event at the 2025 Poker Masters drew an incredibly experienced lineup full of poker players.
Between the final seven players, they played millions of hands and won millions of dollars. Despite the countless hours on the felt, an absolute cold deck left their jaws on the floor.
On just the second hand of the final table, with blinds of 25,000-50,000, action folded to Anatoly Nikitin on the button. Nikitin raised to 125,000 with A♥A♣. The high-stakes online poker streamer has 80 live cashes and $1.4 million worth of gross winnings.
Aram Zobian, a decorated pro with $8.46 million in live tournament cashes, looked down at A♠K♣ with 1.08 million in his stack. He used a time extension chip and then three-bet to 775,000.
Then, Andrew Lichtenberger moved all in from the big blind for 1.25 million with K♠K♥. Nikitin rechecked his cards, moved all in as well, and Zobian called, forcing all the cards on their backs. Nikitin showed the best hand and had everyone covered.
Chino Rheem Says What Everyone Was Thinking
“What kind of setup is this?” asked Rheem, reading the minds of every viewer.
“Three-way chop?” Zobian joked while awaiting his fate.
While the table was still joking about the cold deck, someone else joked that the dealer was doing hard work.
“Thank you, brother,” joked Nikitin, bringing a laugh from the rest of the table. Nobody laughed harder than John Riordan, who had less than eight big blinds and was in great shape to make a few more pay jumps with a short stack.
The board ran out clean for Nikitin, coming J♣J♥4♥3♥6♥. It gave the Russian the nut flush and scoring a double knockout. Zobian finished in seventh place for $44,800, Lichtenberger took sixth for $56,200 and Nikitan rode the extra chips to a third-place finish for $129,000.
Rheem ended up topping the 112-entry field and added $280,000 to his career earnings.
You can watch the whole hand in the clip below:
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