Tommy Unold a Big Winner on HCL’s Max Pain Monday

Poker fans are calling it the world’s first reality TV show that is set at the poker table. Hustler Casino Live’s ‘Max Pain Monday’ certainly lived up to its billing last night as the night ended with over $145,000 on the table. Five players won money and five others lost on a rollercoaster ride of No Limit Hold’em live-streamed fun.

Game Starts With Stacked Table

“We are going to have a moment of silence for the late, great Doyle Brunson.”

The average buy-in for a Hustler Casino Live (HCL) stream is around $4,000, but on Monday night, that was ramped up, with DJ Washburn ($10,000) and FaZe Clan member Nate Hill ($9,000) sitting down with over double that amount.

Poker content creator A.V. Sleeps ($5,000) also topped that average, with DGAF, host of the HCL show on Thursdays and DK both buying in for $4,000. When play began, TikTok personality Tommy Unold ($3,500), Instagrammer Pierson Wodzynski ($3,000) TikTok star Bryce Hall ($3,000) and Gearbox Software owner Randy Pitchford ($2,500) all hit the action with a stack they were looking to double up early. Everything had to wait for a moment of reverence first.

“We are going to have a moment of silence for the late, great Doyle Brunson followed by a ‘cheers’.” Said DGAF to his fellow players.

After a touching moment of thought that was wonderfully observed by everyone at the table, DGAF announced: “Cheers to the legend and his family.”

Instead of playing the seven-deuce game, where payers who win a hand with seven-deuce are paid $200 by the last player to fold in the hand, it was replaced by the ‘ten-deuce game’, the famous final hand held by Doyle Brunson when he took down the 1976 and 1997 WSOP Main Events.

With blinds at a modest $10/$20, the biggest action early on was a pot where Bryce Hall clashed with DGAF. The former held nine-eight of hearts, while DGAF had queen-jack offsuit. Six players went to a rainbow flop of J-7-2, but DK’s bet of $500 with nine-seven was called by both Hall and raised to $1,500 by DGAF. Both DK and Hall called to a ten of clubs on the turn, whereupon Bryce Hall said: “You know what? All-in. Max pain!”

Hall had hit the straight on the turn but DGAF wasn’t a believer and reshoved. DK got out of the way and Hall had a pot worth $11,380. At this stage, Hall was up the most, ahead $7,670 on the night, with DGAF already down two $5,000 buy-ins for a $10,000 five-figure deficit to make up just over an hour into the show.

DGAF Recovers but Washburn Winning at Half-Time

If DGAF was determined to make his money back and get it in, he couldn’t pick much of a better hand than pocket kings. He got hold of it in a great spot, too, four-betting to $1,800 over Randy Oitchford’s three-net with pocket jacks. DK shoved too with pocket fives and Pitchford committed his chips post-flop with the ‘fishhooks’.

Three players all-in and DGAF would treble up 67% of the time. The flop of 7-4-3 reduced those chances to 60%, but a ten on the turn seemed safe as house. DGAF was a 77% shot to win, and he managed to do so, an inconsequential ace on the river meaning the player at the bottom of the chipcounts was bouncing up the leaderboard.

By the halfway stage of the night, DGAF had recovered his losses and sneaked into profit, up $1,180. A.V. Sleeps was up $840, but that amount paled into insignificance when compared to DJ Washburn, whose uptick was $11,680. Pierson Wodzynski had already turned her $3,000 starting stack into a pile worth $10,790 in profit. The biggest loser at this stage was DK, who despite sitting with $3,700 was down a whopping $13,700, the only player to be losing five figures at the halfway point of the action.

Hero Call Gone Wrong Produces Huge Drama

Both the recovered DGAF and the struggling DK met in a monumental hand a short time later, as a flop of T-6-6 saw DGAF holding six-five hit trips. He checked, and Pierson bet with just king-ten, but DK and Randy’s calls of the $300 c-bet saw DGAF three-bet to $1,500. Pierson and DK called, but Randy Pitchford didn’t.

“This is an entirely different situation.” Said Randy, beginning to tell a story of Doyle Brunson and a ping pong bet for $30,000 gone wrong. “I’m the ping pong guy, here.” Said Randy, but no-one wanted to hear any more and one of the HCL Max Pain Monday’s biggest winners got out of the way.

The turn of a nine saw DGAF bet $3,5000 and Pierson got out of the ay, but DK was still thinking about calling with just pocket threes, a 93% favorite to lose the hand. Calling to the river, he believed he was good, but when DGAF shoved after a four fell, DK had second thoughts.

“How much is it?’ he asked. The dealer told him it was $6,700 or so, and with the pot at $20,000, clearly the bluff catching potential of his hand was appealing to him. Only a huge bluff would lose to him, however, and DK flicked in the call, losing to DGAF’s flopped trips. Pierson had read the situation, but DK had not and he dropped a huge pot. DGAF meanwhile had turned from the game’s biggest loser after an hour to the game’s biggest winner after three hours, up over $12,000 on the night.

Max Pain Lives Up To Its Name

A huge pot grew after Randy was back in action with pocket nines, raising pre-flop to $800. Tommy Unold shoved for $2,200 with pocket kings before Nate Hill (ace-ten) and Pierson (pocket jacks) both called. DK Called with six-three off and Washburn made the call too with ace-three. Randy, of course, shoved for $5,780. Tommy called it off and so too did Nate Hill. Pierson, suspecting another monster, considered calling but folded pocket jacks, but DK thought deeply about it with six-three off… and eventually called!

Four-way to the flop for a minimum pot of $20k, and 8-7-2 was checked then followed by a queen on the turn. Two more checks saw another queen land on the river, with Tommy going “from zero to hero real fast”, starting the hand with $2,000 and ending it with $10,000!

Not long later, the game was at a close, with five players ending the night in profit. DJ Washburn ended with $8,330 of winnings, a short way behind Pierson’s profit of $9,390. DGAF’s resurrection concluded with him in profit by $11,630, but San Man ($16,820) ended up even higher. Both were behind the biggest winner of the night, Tommy Unold, who banked $18,830 after an excellent night at the felt.

Five won, but five more lost, with players such as Nate Hill (-$2,550), Randy Pitchford (-$4,550) and A.V. Sleeps (-$5,930) all donating to the winners. Bryce Hall was down $6,200 when he quit for the night, but none of those losses compared to the $45,770 that DK left on the table for others to take home, one of the biggest losses ever endured on Max Pai Monday!

You can watch all the HCL action that took place on Max Pain Monday right here: