Businessman Bill Klein made one of the most memorable bluffs in Hustler Casino Live history Friday night to win a massive pot.

Klein, a regular in the high-stakes community but a recreational player, has long had a tight image at the table. His range exceeds aces and kings, but he’s certainly no Alan Keating.

Bluffing into Kings

With a $400 staddle on, Brian Kim, who finished fourth in the World Poker Tour Five Diamond at Bellagio last week, raised to $1,000 from the cut-off with .

Action folded over to Klein in the straddle, who played it passively and just called with . The flop came out and it was checked over to the preflop raiser who bet $1,600, and he received a call.

When the paired the board on the turn, Kim continued to build the pot, this time wagering $4,000. Not a believer, Klein made the call and saw the on the river. He made a surprising decision to lead out, putting $13,000 into a pot of about the same size.

Kim, only worried about his opponent having a 5 or pocket 10’s, sensed he was in great shape, so he went for a raise to $50,000, leaving around $77,000 behind. Klein, who had him covered, shocked Hustler Casino Live commentator Marc Goone when he three-bet it to $127,000, a gutsy play from a player who isn’t known for making such moves.

On the surface, it appeared that Kim, with the over-pair, had an easy call to make. After all, he was getting 2.5-1 on his money and was only beat by a few possible types of hands. But this is where the wealthy Klein was able to use his tighter image and bankroll to his advantage. Regardless of the pot odds and strength of his hand, Kim was facing a wager for a significant amount of money against a player he likely knew doesn’t three-bet jam rivers without the nuts often, if ever.

After tanking for a couple of minutes, he eventually folded the best hand. Klein showed the bluff and Kim sat in stunned silence. “That was the most ridiculous hand I’ve ever seen,” one player at the table said. It was definitely an exciting hand, but not even close to the most “ridiculous hand” on Hustler Casino Live lately, let alone ever. That title goes to the Robbi-Garrett hand on Sept. 29, which just might be the craziest hand in poker history.

Still, Klein deserves a hat tip for pulling off one of the most impressive bluffs in recent memory. He’d go on to finish the six-hour stream with over $280,000 in profit, far and away the most at the table. Kim, on the other hand, took a small $6,800 loss.

Sunday is traditionally the busiest day of the week for online poker tournament grinders, a fact that is most certainly true if you are one of the thousands of players who frequent 888poker Ontario. While 888poker Ontario has some amazing tournaments running around the clock, the online poker room really stands out on a Sunday when some huge events shuffle up and deal between 1:00 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.

The Sunday Big Shot tournaments are waiting for you to buy into or win your seat via one of the many satellites taking place throughout the week. C$1,000 Sunday Big Shot 16.5 is the event that kicks off a Super Sunday at 888poker, a C$16.50 buy-in affair with C$1,000 guarantee to be won.

Other Sunday Big Shot tournaments come with buy-ins of C$11, C$22, C$33, and C$55, with guaranteed prize pools worth up to C$5,000.

Inaugural 888poker.ca XL Autumn Series Was a Huge Success

888poker Ontario Sunday MTT Highlights

There are a pair of Sunday tournaments that stand out from the crowd, thanks to their impressive guarantees.

The C$30,000 Sunday Ontario major shuffles up and deals at 5:30 p.m. Buy in direct for C$109 or win your way in from a few cents. However you get in, you will sit down with 10,000 chips, and play to a 12-minute clock where the blinds start at 30/60/7a. Unlimited rebuys are available for the first three hours, which, incidentally, is when late registration closes. Depending on the number of entrants, first place should be in the region of C$5,800 to C$6,500, which is huge for Ontarian online poker.

Ninety-minutes after the C$30,000 Sunday Ontario Major starts, the C$10,000 Sunday High Roller kicks off at 7:00 p.m. The High Roller commands a chunky C$525 buy-in, which grants you 10,000 chips. Blinds start at 30/60/7a, and increase every 10 minutes. The last time a $525 High Roller ran, it was part of the XL Autumn series, and saw 39 entrants create a $19,500 prize pool. Perhaps it will be a similar story this weekend?

Of course, there are cut-price satellites feeding into the high roller.

The Dallas building official who filed a lawsuit against the city’s Board of Adjustment and Texas Card House won in court, dealing a swift blow to the Texas poker community, but it was far from a knockout punch.

Although the victory for plaintiff Andres Espinoza could be seen as damaging for card rooms across the state, the fight continues. Texas Card House Dallas will soon begin the process of filing an appeal.

Last month, in preparation for the Oct. 25 court date, Texas Card House CEO Ryan Crow told PokerNews he anticipates the case will eventually end up in the state’s Supreme Court one way or the other. If he’s correct, an unfavorable ruling could serve as a death blow to poker rooms in the Lone Star State.

Bad Day for Texas Poker, But Not the End of the World

In January, TCH Dallas was slapped with a Certificate of Occupancy revocation despite its business model being approved by the city in 2020. In fact, the same city council member who originally backed the business plan has since gone back on his word. The card room has remained open while fighting what will inevitably turn into a lengthy legal battle.

Two months later, the Dallas Board of Adjustment voted in favor of TCH’s appeal, a major victory for the poker club. But, shortly after, interim city building inspector David Session, vowed to sue the BOA for, as he claimed, illegally reversing the COO decision. On Thursday, three days after the mini trial, District Court judge Eric V. Moye agreed.

“The Court finds that the Board of Adjustment abused its discretion and made an illegal decision when it reversed the Building Official’s revocation of Certificate of Occupancy number 2003031040, which was issued in violation of state law to ‘Ryan Crow’ DBA ‘Texas Card House,’ the judge wrote in court documents obtained by PokerNews.

What the Law Says

In the state of Texas, poker rooms such as TCH operate as social clubs and charge membership and seat fees instead of taking rake out of cash game pots. They do so because collecting rake is illegal, but some lawmakers argue the same can be said about the club-based model.

Texas Penal Code 47.04 states that so long as the gambling occurs in a private place, no economic benefit other than personal winnings were received from the game, and that every player had an fair shot at winning, the game is legal.

The definition of “economic benefit” has been debated across the state, with some officials arguing the term implies that as long as rake isn’t collected during the games, the poker is legal. Others, however, claim that any form of gambling in Texas is illegal regardless of how and where the games are played.

One of two things will likely happen, perhaps within the next couple of years: the Texas Supreme Court will determine the legality of poker via the ongoing Texas Card House case, or lawmakers will reword the letter of the law to clear up any confusion.

888poker’s Ontario-based customers thoroughly enjoyed themselves in the inaugural XL Autumn Series Ontario festival, with thousands of poker players buying into the 33 major events and 27 side events. 888poker guaranteed it would award at least C$226,300 via the 60 prize pools, but the fantastic support of the Ontario poker community meant the site paid out C$253,040 when all was said and done.

A cool C$50,000 of that sum stemmed from the C$109 buy-in Main Event. A field of 374 unique players purchased 76 re-entries between them, for an impressive turnout of 450 players. That crowd meant an overlay of C$5,000, even more value for 888poker Ontario players.

888poker Ontario XL Autumn Main Event Final Table Results

*reflects a heads-up deal

All but one of the nine Main Event finalists padded their 888poker Ontario bankrolls with four-figure scores. “Spades165” busted in ninth and collected C$780 for their effort.

“Price3524” banked C$1,045 when their tournament ended in eighth place, before “halladayfan1” and “AAsFullovQQs” crashed and burned, earning prizes of C$1,405 and C$1,900, respectively.

The final five became four when “nutsonadonk” found themselves void of chips. Getting so deep in a major tournament and not winning is always disappointing, but the C$2,585 payout will have helped to numb the pain.

Heads-up was set after “JhobPoker” fell in fourth for C$3,510 and “Dustyourfish” bowed out in third, a finish good for C$4,805. The heads-up duo, now guaranteed a substantial return on their C$109 investment, paused the tournament clock, and discussed a deal. Those discussions bore fruit they heads-up duo struck a deal that saw “2sick2bluff” receive C$7,443 when the fell at the final hurdle, and “Liquornutz” secure a C$8,331 top prize, in addition to the title of champion.

Other XL Autumn Highlights

It was not only the C$50,000 Main Event that drew in a big crowd because the C$30,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty did too. A total of 372 entries were processed, meaning this tournament dished out $37,200 to the lucky 888poker Ontario players.

The C$525 buy-in Sunday High Roller also obliterated its guarantee. Instead of paying out C$15,000, the 39-strong field fought it out for a slice of C$19,500!

Check Out The Pair of Mystery Bounty Events on October 29

As you can see, online poker is booming in Ontario and at 888poker, in particular. There are so many fantastic tournaments for Ontarians to get their teeth into that it is challenging to single any of them out for special attention. That said, there are a brace of Mystery Bounty events taking place on October 29 that definitely deserve your attention.

The C$22 buy-in C$3,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty kicks off at 7:00 p.m. on October 29. Eliminate an opponent during or after Level 17 and you will win a mystery bounty. The biggest of those mystery bounties tips the scales at C$300, which will be a nice bonus for someone.

A C$5.50 buy-in C$1,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty tournament starts half-hour later at 7:30 p.m. Again, the mystery bounties start flying around after Level 17, and C$100 is the largest you can win, which for a C$5.50 buy-in is pretty good.