Defiant Player Set Up in $2,400,000 Hand of Poker But Can He Get Lucky?

In the 936th episode of the PokerNews Podcast, Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Ben Ludlow are all in Las Vegas at Level 9 Studio to talk about the viral $2.4 million poker hand played between Antonio Esfandiari and Alan Keating. The hand, part of Super High Roller Cash Game on PokerGO, blew up fast and had the whole poker world talking.

From there, the crew talks about the Daniel "Jungleman" Cates vs. sports bettor "Elf" boxing match, looks at a controversial hand from High Stakes Poker involving Sam "Señor Tilt" Kiki, and a winner interview with Andrew "Lucky Chewy" Lichtenberger after he notched a win at the PGT Kickoff Series.

Other stories bantered about are Jeff Platt now being exclusive with the WSOP, how Arden Cho will probably be at the Oscars, the new PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard for the 2026 RGPS Passport Season, and sharing which poker room on the Las Vegas Strip is unfortunately closing at the end of the month.

A new PokerNews Podcast drops every Thursday at 8a PT / 11a ET / 4p UK time. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel so you do not miss an episode!

Time Stamps
*Time    Topic*
00:00 Welcome to the show
01:31 Esfandiari vs. Keating in $2.4M Pot
07:08 Dan "Jungleman" Cates boxing match results
11:25 Controversial hand on High Stakes Poker
17:17 Winner interview w/ Andrew "Lucky Chewy" Lichtenberger
22:06 Jeff Platt now with the WSOP
24:07 Arden Cho & the Oscars
26:12 PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard for 2026 RGPS Passport Season
28:44 Planet Hollywood closing poker room