Alan Keating lived up to his reputation last night, getting involved in several huge pots on Day 1 of PokerGO’s Super High Roller Cash Game. Unfortunately for Keating, he found himself on the wrong side of it last night, kicking off the three-day series with a $667,000 loss.
Keating lost most of it in a million-dollar pot with Sameh Elamawy, who was the biggest winner on the night, finishing $981,000 in the black. Darin Feinstein won close to $500,000, while Andrew Robl finished slightly profitable, winning $18,000
Hand of the night
Alan Keating has a history of playing the majority of his hands, so when he gets a legitimate holding, he’s often pedal to the metal, for better or worse. This time, his hyper-aggressive style of play came back to bite him to the tune of half a million dollars.
With the blinds at $500/$1,000 with a $2,000 big blind ante, Keating opened to $10,000 from early position with ace-nine of spades. Sameh Elamawy three-bet to $50,000 with pocket queens, and Kirk Brown cold-called with ace-king offsuit. Keating also called, and they went three ways to the flop.
The flop came T-6-3 with two diamonds, no spades, and Elamawy c-bet for $125,000. Keating, inexplicably, moved all in for $450,000 effective, and Elamawy snap-called. Keating had just a 14% chance to win the massive $1,053,500 pot.
Keating claimed to have misread his hand: “Oh wow,” said Keating. “I thought I had a ten.”
They ran the turn and river twice. The first board ran out three-deuce to give the Scratch CEO the first half of the pot, while the second board ran out seven-seven to give Elamawy the full seven-figure pot.
Hyper-aggressive from the start
Earlier in the session, Keating decided to five-bet jam five-four offsuit into Darin Feinstein, a recreational poker player and entrepreneur.
With the blinds at $500/$1,000 with a $2,000 big blind ante, Feinstein opened ace-ten of diamonds to $4,000. Keating three-bet his five-four offsuit to $8,000. Feinstein then four-bet to $24,000, and Keating five-bet ripped for $116,500 effective. Feinstein beat Keating into the pot.
With $238,500 in the middle, Keating sheepishly asked if Feinstein had a pair or not. Feinstein flipped over his hand, and Keating was a bit shocked that he was extremely live, with a 35% chance to win the hand.
They decided to run it twice, and Feinstein was a bit annoyed on the A-T-8 flop, complaining that all his cards were going to get used up on the first board. The turn was another ace, giving Feinstein a full house and the first half of the pot. A queen completed the first runout.
On the second board, the flop came out a very dry K-9-2 rainbow, reducing Keating’s chances of a chop to just 28%. A second king appeared on the turn, followed by an eight to give Feinstein the scoop.
Alan Keating’s poker history
According to the famous poker tracking website Highroll Poker, Alan Keating had previously played on 59 televised poker streams, dating back to 2019. He has played several times on Hustler Casino Live, as well as PokerGO’s assorted cash game programming, on shows like No Gamble No Future, High Stakes Poker, and Poker After Dark. Keating also appeared on both seasons of PokerStars’ The Big Game On Tour.
Known for playing super-high stakes, Keating’s reported average big blind is $400. Prior to last night’s stream, he had won a reported $310,125 across those televised streams. However, with the $667,000 he lost during yesterday’s five-and-a-half-hour telecast, that puts Keating back in the red.
Back in May 2024, Keating was down as much as $3.4 million lifetime. At the time, he was one of the biggest losers in televised poker history.
However, that won’t mean too much, as he’s believed to be worth well over $500,000,000, thanks to many entrepreneurial ventures that he keeps close to his chest.
Two more days of action
Thankfully, poker fans get to enjoy two more big days of Alan Keating and the Super High Roller Cash Game. You can catch all of the action on the PokerGO YouTube channel or on PokerGO, home of the PGT Championship.
