When Jean-Robert Bellande wasn’t busy winning with pocket aces on Episode 10 of High Stakes Poker Season 10, he was busy hitting quads against the aggressive Eric Persson.
While the entertaining table on PokerGO included big names such as Daniel Negreanu, Andrew Robl, and Jennifer Tilly, it was all about JRB on this episode. It was a stark contrast to the horrible luck Bellande ran into constantly on televised poker shows such as High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark in years past.
On the very first hand, Persson three-bet to $13,000 with unsuited connectors and then folded to a $30,000 re-raise from Bellande, who had pocket aces for the first of three times during this episode. He’d end the show with that very same hand, but we’ll hold off a bit on giving you those details.
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Bellande Didn’t Win Every Hand, However
While the cards were favorable to JRB, he did lose one sizable hand. In a straddled pot, Bellande raised it up to $3,000 with 7♦5♦ from a middle position and was called by the 9♣8♣ of Persson on the button along with Tilly’s K♣2♣ in the big blind and Negreanu’s Q♥9♦ in the straddle.
The flop came out J♦6♣8♥ and after the first two players checked it to JRB, he bet $10,000 on his open-ended straight draw. Only Persson, with middle pair, made the call. The two remaining players in the hand saw the 8♠ on the turn, a gorgeous sight for Persson.
Bellande didn’t slow down despite the board pairing as he fired out a bet of $21,000, to which his opponent called. The river Q♠ was a blank, and this time he opted to check before folding to a $57,000 bet.
Tang Runs Into JRB’s Aces
Bellande opened from early position with A♠A♣ to $2,000 before being three-bet to $7,000 by the J♦J♣ of DoorDash founder Stanley Tang. Slow playing his hand wasn’t in the cards for JRB, so he re-raised it to $27,000. Tang then jammed all in for $92,000 total and was, of course, snap-called.
“I have aces every time, why would you raise me, I have aces every hand?” Bellande asked his opponent as they awaited the flop.
The players agreed to run it twice, and the first board of 9♥A♦J♥6♦5♥ was crushing to Tang because he used up one of the two remaining jacks and still lost. After the second board came 2♦4♠5♣8♣5♠, Bellande scooped the entire $185,000 pot.
After two players limped, Robl raised it to $10,000 in the small blind with A♠Q♦. Bellande called with A♥J♦ in the big blind. Tilly, with Q♠9♠, and Persson, holding 7♥3♥, both called from middle positions.
With the pot already bloated, a juicy flop of J♥J♠7♦ arrived, and the blinds checked it to Persson, who made a large $30,000 bet with his two pair. That was music to Bellande’s ears, and he was the only player to call.
The turn was the J♣, giving JRB quads, and both players checked to see the K♠ on the river. Bellande went for a small bet of $12,000 into a pot of $100,000.
“That’s so annoying,” a frustrated Persson said while he pondered his decision. “I just don’t like giving you money. I mean, on the other hand, it always comes back, so it’s like more of a loan.”
After a brief tank, Persson decided to “loan” Bellande, whose Twitter moniker is @BrokeLivingJRB, the money. He put in the call, saw the monster hand he was up against and moved on to the next hand.
Even when JRB made a mistake during Episode 10, he’d still win. Take this hand for example: From a late position, Robl made it $2,000 with 7♦4♦. Bellande, on the button, came along for the ride with K♦5♦ and so did Persson with Q♠3♠ from the big blind.
The flop was 5♣K♠7♠, and Robl continued for $2,500 with middle pair. He would then fold to Bellande’s raise to $10,000, but Persson opted to chase his flush draw.
When the 6♦ appeared on the turn, Persson check-called a $30,000 bet after picking up a gut-shot straight draw to go along with his flush draw. But the river Q♣ gave him top pair, which was no good up against two pair.
Persson checked and then Bellande surprisingly checked behind, choosing not to go for value with two pair.
“You look too happy,” an apparently confused JRB said. “Just because I’m afraid you rivered the queen, I’m going to check back.”
“No!” an also confused (for different reasons) High Stakes Poker commentator Nick Schulman said. “No, what’s this?”
Persson then showed his hand before Bellande turned over his cards and then every player at the table was confused as to why Bellande was concerned with his opponent hitting a queen on the river as that wouldn’t beat kings-up.
“You’ve never been slow-rolled before?” Bellande asked Negreanu, which still doesn’t make sense.
Bellande then partially explained that he feared he could have been up against king-queen, a better two pair than he held.
Poker is Easy When You Keep Getting Pocket Aces
On the final hand of Episode 10, Bellande once again picked up the pocket rockets. This time, he faced early action from Negreanu, who started things off with a $2,000 raise with Q♠10♠ from an early position.
In the big blind, Bellande looked down at A♥A♦ and three-bet it to $7,000 before Tilly, sitting on A♠K♦ in the straddle, went for a four-bet to $30,000. Negreanu moved out of the way, but JRB again decided against slow-rolling his preflop nuts. He chose to five-bet it to $85,000.
Tilly was in a difficult spot with about $156,000 left behind, enough to call the raise and then have just under a pot-sized bet left. After some thought, the Hollywood actress made the wise and disciplined decision to fold. Bellande scooped one final pot with pocket rockets to end the show.
JRB Runs Hot on High Stakes Poker
High Stakes Poker Season 10 returns next week on PokerGO at 5 p.m. PT with Episode 11.
Past High Stakes Poker Recaps
Check out our past recaps from Season 10 of High Stakes Poker on PokerGO:
*Images courtesy of PokerGO.
