Michael “Texas Mike” Moncek turned a busted ten-high into the biggest pot in the history of High Stakes Poker, bluffing Eric Wasserson out of $4,260,000 in a hand that instantly rewrote the record book for the PokerGO cash game show. The pot landed less than 24 hours after the previous record, a $2,478,000 confrontation between Andrew Robl and Wasserson, had already been called the largest in the show’s history.
The Hand That Broke the Record
Moncek picked up 10♣7♣ and found himself heads-up against Wasserson’s 9♦7♦ after a series of raises built a monster pot before the flop even landed. The board ran out K♦A♦9♣, then the 4♥ on the turn and the 5♦ on the river, a runout that gave Wasserson a made flush and left Moncek with nothing but ten-high, no pair, no draw that connected.
Rather than give up, Moncek fired a $330,000 bet on the turn and then moved all-in on the river, completing a full bluff for a total pot of $4,260,000. Wasserson, holding a genuine hand in the diamond flush, made the call and scooped the largest pot ever shown on High Stakes Poker. For Moncek, it was a brutal cooler dressed up as a bluff gone wrong. For Wasserson, it capped an extraordinary weekend at the table that saw him involved in two separate record-breaking pots within a single stretch of televised action.
A Record Broken Twice in One Weekend
The $4.26 million hand did not happen in isolation. One day earlier, in the same PokerGO Studio session, Wasserson had already been part of what was then the largest pot in show history: a $2,478,000 confrontation against Andrew Robl. In that hand, Robl held J♦10♦ for a combination flush draw and gutshot straight draw and check-raised all-in on the turn against Wasserson’s A♦9♥ top pair. The board failed to complete Robl’s draw, Wasserson’s top pair held, and Robl walked away having lost $669,500 in a single hand while a third player at the table, Alejandro Lococo, also dropped over $1,021,000 in the same session.
That pot stood as the show’s all-time record for less than a full day before Moncek’s bluff eclipsed it by nearly $1.8 million. Two record pots inside 24 hours, both involving Wasserson on the winning side, underline just how deep the games have gotten on High Stakes Poker since PokerGO relaunched the format with uncapped buy-ins and a rotating cast of poker’s best-known cash game specialists.
Who Are the Players Involved
Eric Wasserson has built a reputation as one of the sharpest reads in the mid-to-high stakes online and live cash scene, known for tight, disciplined play that rarely strays from strong value. His run through this session, first surviving Robl’s draw and then snapping off Moncek’s bluff for a career-defining score, will likely stand as one of the signature performances in the show’s modern era. Andrew Robl, by contrast, is a veteran of nosebleed cash games going back over a decade, with a long track record of both massive wins and painful, well-documented downswings broadcast live to viewers. Michael “Texas Mike” Moncek has become a recognizable face on the High Stakes Poker set in recent seasons, playing an aggressive, high-variance style that produces both spectacular wins and, as in this case, spectacular losses.
Why the Hand Matters
High Stakes Poker has long been the flagship vehicle for showing casual fans just how large the stakes can get in unscripted, professional cash games. Since its revival on PokerGO, the show has repeatedly produced viral moments, but a pot exceeding $4 million pushes the format into territory rarely seen even by nosebleed standards. For context, most professional tournament players will never see a single pot approach seven figures across an entire career of live poker, let alone in one hand of a cash game.
The hand also illustrates a core truth of high-stakes cash play: bluffing with zero equity against a range that includes made flushes is an enormous risk, and even world-class players get these spots wrong under pressure. Moncek’s decision to fire two streets with ten-high, when Wasserson’s range on that runout was heavily weighted toward flushes and strong made hands, will be dissected by poker analysts and content creators for weeks. It is exactly the kind of hand that separates the theoretical study of the game, built on frequencies and balanced ranges, from the split-second, high-pressure decisions players actually face at the table.
What Comes Next for High Stakes Poker
PokerGO has not announced whether Moncek, Wasserson, or Robl will return for additional sessions in the near term, but the buzz generated by back-to-back record pots is exactly the kind of exposure the network wants for its flagship cash game property. With online clips of the hand already circulating widely among poker fans, expect the show’s producers to lean further into the format that has made stars out of its recurring cast. Fans studying hand histories from a session like this can sharpen their own reads on bet sizing and range construction by working through hands with resources like Poker Pro Academy’s poker hand rankings guidewhich breaks down exactly how holdings like a flush stack up against strong but ultimately second-best hands.
Whatever happens next, the September 2026 session will be remembered as the weekend High Stakes Poker’s record book was rewritten twice in the space of a day, first by a draw gone wrong for Robl, then by a bluff gone wrong for Moncek, with Eric Wasserson standing on the winning side of poker history both times.
