Doyle Brunson's Pocket Aces Cracked in High Stakes Poker Showdown

In the latest episode of High Stakes Poker, legendary player Doyle Brunson found himself on the receiving end of a brutal bad beat. Brunson, holding pocket aces, straddled for $800, while Jennifer Tilly raised to $2,500, and Krish Menon and Garett Adelstein called. Brunson then 3-bet to $10,800. Tilly called with pocket twos, Menon called with queen-jack offsuit, and Adelstein called with pocket sixes. The pot swelled to $44,200 as four players saw the flop: 3s Qh Kd.

Brunson, who was a 63% favorite, bet $50,000. Tilly folded, but Menon made a surprising all-in move for $117,000 with second pair. Adelstein folded, and Brunson called, having Menon covered. To reduce variance, the pair decided to run it twice. On the first runout, the turn brought another queen, giving Menon trips. The river was a blank eight. The second runout saw a 4 on the turn but another jack on the river, giving Menon two pair and cracking Brunson’s pocket aces on both runouts.

This sequence of events led to an absolute carnage, with Brunson losing a massive $279,000 pot in one of the craziest jams in recent poker history.