March 28 2011, Rich Ryan

Entering this week’s episode of High Stakes Poker, only three players were in the black: Antonio Esfandiari, Andrew Robl and David Peat. Every other player was down at least $100,000, including Bill Klein who was down more the $400,000. The players welcomed the 1987 and ‘88 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Johnny Chan to the table for the finale of the session, and the “Oriental Express” jumped out to a very fast start.

SPOILER ALERT: If you are waiting to watch the HSP episode, read no further.

Here’s how the table looked at the beginning of the episode.

Wasn’t the Pot Raised?: Antonio Esfandiari opened the action to $2,500 with . Bill Klein called with on the button, David Peat called with from the small blind, and Doyle Brunson came along with from the big. The dealer fanned , giving Peat and Brunson gut-shot straight draws and Klein top pair. All four players checked, however, and the turn brought the .

Peat led out for $5,000 with his turned straight. Brunson called, not knowing he was drawing to a split, and Klein raised to $22,000 drawing dead. Peat called and Brunson released. The river was the , and Peat checked to try and induce a bluff from Klein. Klein quickly checked behind though, and Peat unhappily tabled the best hand.

“Wasn’t the pot raised?” Vanessa Selbst asked upon seeing Peat’s rags.

“I could’ve made two flushes and three or four straights,” Peat answered with a grin.

Esfandiari Turns Nut-Straight, Selbst Rivers Nut-Flush: David Peat limped in with , Vanessa Selbst limped behind with , Antonio Esfandiari joined the party with , Andrew Robl completed the small blind with , and Bill Klein checked his option with . Everybody checked after the flop fell , and Esfandiari turned the nuts when the fell. The action checked to Selbst who coolly tossed out three yellow $1,000 chips, and Esfandiari opted to call rather than raise. Klein and Peat both called, as well, and the river was the , giving Selbst the nut flush.

Klein and Peat checked to Selbst who fired another $3,000. Esfandiari quickly bumped it up to $12,000, Klein and Peat got out of the way, and Selbst paused for a moment before reraising to $43,000. Esfandiari went into the tank.

“I can beat a bluff,” Selbst said to him.

“You can beat a bluff?” Esfandiari echoed, before instantly mucking his hand.

Here Comes Johnny!: Ten-time WSOP bracelet winner Johnny Chan joined the table after the first commercial break. The players gave him a very warm welcome and Chan got busy on his very first hand.

Selbst open-limped with , Chan, who chose to post the blind in the cutoff seat, checked with . David Peat completed from the small blind with , and Doyle Brunson checked his option with . The flop fell and the blinds checked to Selbst who fired $2,000. Chan called, the two others folded, and the turn was the . Both players checked.

The on the river gave Chan a straight, and after Selbst checked, he bet $4,000. Selbst quickly folded, and Chan raked in his first pot at the table.

Folding Trip Aces: Bill Klein straddled to $1,600, and David Peat was first to act, limping with . The action folded to Antonio Esfandiari who also called with , Johnny Chan called with from the big blind, and Klein checked his option in the straddle with . The flop came down and the action checked to Esfandiari who bet $4,200. Only Chan called.

The turn was the and both players checked, but after the spiked on the river, Chan immediately tossed out $20,000.

“Oh Johnny,” Esfandiari sighed.

He tanked for less than half-a-minute before folding his trip aces, saving himself 20 dimes.

Doyle Felted: David Peat straddled to $1,600, and Doyle Brunson started the action by raising to $4,700 with . Vanessa Selbst three-bet to $14,000 with , and the action folded back to Brunson who called. The flop was a good one – . Brunson checked, fully expecting to check-raise all in, but Selbst checked behind. The turn was the , and Brunon checked again, but this time Selbst bet $17,400.

“I guess you turned three kings,” Brunson announced. “But I’m going in.”

He moved all in for $55,300, and Selbst threw her arms up.

“Does that speech mean you have trip jacks?” she said. “I call.”

Selbst was relieved to see that Brunson did not have trip jacks, and the two decided to run it twice. Neither the nor the made Brunson’s flush, and he was forced to re-buy for another $200,000.

Chan Rivers Another Straight: Johnny Chan opened to $3,000 with and was called by Bill Klein (), David Peat () and Vanessa Selbst (). The flop was and Chan continued for $11,000. Only Selbst called.

The turn was the , and both players checked. The river was the , and Selbst checked a third time. Chan fired $15,000, Selbst tank-called and Chan tabled his straight. Selbst looked very confused as she mucked her hand, and Chan raked in yet another pot.

High Stakes Legends: This week, HSP paid tribute to Betty Carey – one of the most feared cash-game players in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Amarillo Slim regarded her as the best woman player he’d ever seen. Slim beat Carey heads-up for $100,000, but in a rematch for double the stakes, Carey defeated Slim in under eight minutes.

Quads Are Good: Bill Klein straddled to $1,600 and David Peat limped in with a monster – . Antonio Esfandiari called with , Andrew Robl with , Chan with , and Klein checked with . The flop gave Robl a set and everyone checked. The turn was the , and again all five players checked. The on the river gave Robl quads, and Peat fired $4,000 with his aces. Robl bumped it to $17,000, and Peat begrudgingly folded.

Robl did not show his quads, rather he silently raked in the $30,000 pot.

Last Pot of the Session: Antonio Esfandiari opened to $2,500 with , and David Peat () and Doyle Brunson () called. The flop fell and all three players checked. The on the turn gave Esfandiari a pair of aces, and he fired $5,600. Peat folded, but Brunson raised to $22,600. Esfandiari wasn’t going anywhere, however, and called.

The river was the and Brunson led for $40,000 into a pot of $53,000. Esfandiari tank-folded, and Brunson was shipped the last pot of the session.

Tune in next week, where a brand new group of players will take their seats, headlined by 2010 WSOP Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel, the Unibomber Phil Laak and ”Silent” Mike Baxter.

Hey! Go follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook to keep up with news from all around the poker world!

March 28 2011, Elaine Chaivarlis

You may not have hit the $319 Mega Millions jackpot over the weekend, but you did hit the “top poker news stories of the day” jackpot by checking out the Nightly Turbo. In this edition, you’ll find out how you could get a coaching session by Tom “durrrr” Dwan, an update from the World Poker Tour Vienna, and more.

In Case You Missed It

Grinding online and traveling the poker circuit can be hectic and tiring. In the latest edition of the Sunday Grind, Kevin “ImaLuckSac” MacPhee shows you his on-the-road grind station and gives you his tips if you’re planning on being a traveling grinder.

Did you miss the newest episode of High Stakes Poker Saturday because you were too caught up with the March Madness games? Don’t worry, we’ve got a recap of all the high-stakes action for you.

FSN’s coverage of the ninth season of the World Poker Tour continued on Sunday night. If you missed the episode, you can catch up on the action from the Festa al Lago in the WPT recap.

Fourteen players added six-figure scores to their bankrolls Sunday. Want to find out who? Check out the Sunday Briefing for the results from Sunday’s biggest tournaments.

Daniel Negreanu and Viktor “Isildur1″ Blom battled on the PokerStars virtual felt Sunday in a rematch of the SuperStar Showdown. We know you know that Negreanu didn’t do so well in their first match. How’d he do this time? You’re going to have to read the SuperStar Showdown recap to find out.

Expert Insight from Durrrr and Others

Last week, we alluded to Phil Ivey teaching us to play poker, but we can’t say more for sure because his website is still “Coming Soon!” That’s OK, we’ll move on – for now. If we can’t have Ivey, we’ll take Tom Dwan or Patrik Antonius.

Brandon Adams started a thread on TwoPlusTwo on Friday that outlined his new project, a company called Expert Insight. What does this have to do with coaching? Well, Dwan, Antonius, Ben “Sauce123″ Sulsky, and Chris “GoMukYaSelf” Sparks have signed on with the site to offer coaching.

The calls with the pros will last one-hour over Expert Insight’s audio-video technology — kind of like Skype. Antonius and Dwan are going for $3,000, according to Adams’ post. There have been bids in the thread, but we can’t be sure which are legit.

The a majority of the proceeds from the calls will be donated to Morris Jeff Community School in New Orleans.

The website launches on April 18. To find out more, check out Adams’ thread on TwoPlusTwo.

World Poker Tour Vienna

The World Poker Tour is in Vienna, Austria, for its latest stop. In all, 555 players entered the event, creating a record for the largest WPT field on European soil. Arnaud Mattern, Vitaly Lunkin, Tony G, James Akenhead, Leo Margets, Bertrand Grospellier, and Dragan Galic are just a few of the notable pros to take part.

Pascal Lefrancois bubbled the official final table in ninth place when his ace-nine failed to hold against Dmitry Gromov’s king-ten. The final table will kick off on Tuesday at 1300 CET (4 a.m. PDT) and will be live-streamed, hole cards and all, on the PartyPoker Blog with commentary provided by Mike Sexton and Jesse May.

WPT Vienna Final Table Lineup

For more, head on over to the PartyPoker Blog.

Online Poker Legislation Efforts Being Noticed

On Monday, the Los Angeles Times ran a story summarizing the recent developments in the online poker legislation front. The piece touched on the Caesars Entertainment and 888 Holdings relationship, as well as the PokerStars and Wynn partnership that was formed last week.

“I’d be willing to bet that no major gaming legislation has ever passed in Nevada that has been opposed by the state’s largest casinos,” I. Nelson Rose, Whittier Law School professor and expert in gambling law said.

A quote from MGM Resorts spokesman, Alan Feldman, pushed for regulation at the federal level, “Otherwise we end up with a patchwork of rules and regulations,” he said.

If you need to catch up on the goings on, you can do so at LATimes.com.

Slide on Down

For those of you loyal Nightly Turbo readers, this bit is not news for you. If you’re new to the Turbo, or missed this somehow, this is something we here at PokerNews HQ are striving for.

When Phil Galfond bought a pair of penthouses in a luxury condo building in New York, he faced a dilemma — how to join them. Stairs would have been our first thought, but that’s why Galfond is featured in this Yahoo article. He decided to connect the two penthouses with a slide.

“The half-tube stainless steel slide starts on the top floor near the office, and lands below near both the living and dining areas. The sculptural slide is housed in a newly created 18′ tall double-height space, which includes custom designed glass railings,” Turett Collaborative Architects said. “The image of the stainless steel curves in front of the oversized window to the city beyond, to say nothing of the irrepressible glee of grown adults on the slide, is surprisingly poetic; with careful detailing, the playground element is an unexpectedly elegant addition to the space. Upon completion, the owner enjoys not only the newly combined total of 2,400 square feet, but also a new game room, office, putting green on the terrace, and of course, the slide.”

If you want to check it out, Yahoo.com has photos of Galfond’s slide. To let our boss know how much you want us to have a slide here at the office, tell him in our comments section below.

Calling the Clock: Erik Seidel

Kristy Arnett decided to catch up with Erik Seidel while at the World Series of Poker Circuit $10,000 Regional Championship in Rincon. Who does Seidel think will be the first player to win Player of the Year on the Onyx Cup tour? Why is he so awesome? You’ll have to watch the video to find out.

If you aren’t following PokerNews on Twitter, and you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet, you’re missing out. So why don’t you go do that.

We have one more $15,000 Sunday Million Freeroll with PokerStars left to qualify for, where $1,000 will go to the winner and 260 tournament tickets are up for grabs, including 45 Sunday Million Tickets.