What’s the Biggest Pot in the History of High Stakes Poker? Hellmuth Loses Out on $80 Million

PokerNews Podcast

In the 885th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Kyna England discuss the biggest pot in High Stakes Poker history, a $1.4 million monster won by Alan Keating. That led to a bigger discussion on the state of televised poker and the game's modern vs. old-school characters.

The crew also discusses the report that Phil Hellmuth apparently missing out on an $80 million payday after declining to invest $15,000 into a company, the status of Doug Polk's "Code Doug" challenge, and recent tournament winners including Daniel Negreanu and Chino Rheem. Oh, they also took a look at some of the best April Fools' Day pranks from the poker world, including one from PokerNews featuring Nik Airball.

Chad then offers a glimpse into his recent run in the MSPT Riverside, everyone shares their thoughts on the 2025 Wynn Summer Classic schedule, and in a new round of Collusion Mind Meld, Mike and Kyna try to get on the same page, and despite some early struggles, they do manage to hit their stride.

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Time Stamps *Time | Topic* 00:10 | Welcome Kyna England & Mike Holtz 00:16 | What’s coming up in this episode? 01:13 | Biggest pot in High Stakes Poker history 04:23 | Peter is fun to watch! 10:40 | Phil Hellmuth reportedly lost out turning $15K investment into $80 million 15:00 | Update on Polk’s “Code Doug” challenge 15:50 | Doug hits one outer to get in the black! 18:00 | Any good April Fools’ pranks? 19:15 | PokerNews’s annual April Fools’ prank 19:32 | Get a pair of the Nik Airballs 20:58 | Sponsor: WSOP Free-to-Play App 21:57 | Recent Tournament Winners presented by WPT Global 22:10 | Daniel Negreanu & Chino Rheem capture PGT PLO Series titles 25:30 | Joshua McSwiney wins WPT Prime Gold Coast Championship 27:17 | Ian Steinman wins RGPS Reno for $36,220 28:50 | Remembering Mark Martin, who passed away at age 70 29:43 | Collusion Mind Meld 33:45 | Chad’s trip to MSPT Riverside 39:19 | 888poker – PokerNews April Freeroll Passwords 38:48 | 2025 Wynn Summer Classic schedule out 43:50 | Nick Petrangelo defending champ