Mariano Grandoli booked another five-figure cash game win after a wild session featuring a $33,000 bluff catch, an $8,500 nine-high bluff and one very fortunate encounter with pocket aces.
Mariano Grandoli has produced another action-packed poker vlog, and this time the popular poker creator walked away around $25,000 richer.
Playing $25/$50 at a new private game, Mariano started with $10,000 before eventually putting around $20,000 into the session.
What followed was anything but a straightforward winning night.
There was a huge bluff catch with top pair, an ambitious $8,500 river bluff with nine-high, pocket aces getting cracked by T6 suited and thousands of dollars changing hands through the game’s bounty rules.
By the time Mariano left the table, he estimated that he had won around $25,000.
Mariano Finds a $33,000 Bluff Catch
One of the biggest pots of the session started with Mariano holding A5 suited.
After opening to $200, Mariano faced a three-bet to $700 from the small blind and decided to turn one of poker’s favorite four-bet bluffing hands into exactly that, making it $2,400.
His opponent called and the flop came A-9-3 with two clubs.
For Mariano, it was close to an ideal flop. His A5 of clubs had made top pair while also picking up the nut flush draw.
Mariano bet $1,500 after being checked to, only for his opponent to spring a surprise with a small check-raise to $3,200.
He called.
A nine arrived on the turn and his opponent fired another $3,000. Mariano called again, taking the pot beyond $17,000 before a three completed the board.
His opponent wasn’t finished.
An $8,000 river shove left Mariano facing a decision for a pot worth more than $30,000. Despite holding only a relatively weak ace, the price and possibility of a bluff convinced him to call.
It was the right decision.
His opponent revealed K10 of diamonds for a missed draw and Mariano collected a pot worth approximately $33,000.
An $8,500 Nine-High Bluff Runs Into King-Deuce
Mariano’s biggest bluff of the night didn’t go quite as well.
Holding 98 of spades in the small blind, he called a raise in a multiway pot before everyone checked a K-4-7 flop.
The ace of spades arrived on the turn.
After the original raiser bet $800 and another player called, Mariano decided neither player appeared particularly strong. Despite holding nine-high and almost no equity, he launched a check-raise to $3,100.
The original raiser quickly folded.
The second player did not.
That left Mariano heading to the river with nine-high and a rapidly growing problem.
A five completed the board and Mariano decided there was only one realistic way to win the hand. With $8,500 already in the middle, he bet the entire pot.
His opponent went deep into the tank.
After several minutes, the call finally came.
Mariano turned over his nine-high bluff, only to discover that his opponent had made the hero call with K2 offsuit.
It was a pot worth more than $25,000 lost with what Mariano described as “absolute dust.”
T6 Suited Delivers Instant Revenge Against Pocket Aces
Poker didn’t make Mariano wait very long to get the money back.
Soon afterwards, he picked up T6 suited on the button and three-bet a $300 raise to $1,050.
It wasn’t exactly a premium starting hand.
The big blind cold-called and the original raiser folded, sending the pair to a 9-6-6 flop.
Suddenly, Mariano’s questionable preflop hand had turned into extremely well-disguised trips.
After the big blind checked, Mariano bet $800. His opponent responded by moving all-in for $7,500.
There wasn’t much of a decision.
Mariano called and discovered that his opponent had slow-played pocket aces before the flop.
They ran the remaining cards twice, but neither board produced the ace his opponent needed.
The pot was worth more than $17,000 and, almost immediately after his failed nine-high bluff, Mariano had recovered a substantial part of the damage.
Mariano Wins Thousands From the Bounty Game
The stakes weren’t only coming from the pots themselves.
Players were also running a bounty game in which winning three consecutive hands earned $500 from every other player at the table. Four consecutive wins increased that payment to $1,000 per player.
That created some unusual incentives.
With two wins already recorded, Mariano found T4 offsuit after straddling to $100. An early-position player raised to $1,000, but the potential bounty was enough to persuade Mariano to continue with a hand he openly admitted was terrible.
The gamble worked.
A T-5-3 flop gave him top pair. After checking, Mariano faced a $2,000 bet and decided to move all-in.
His opponent folded and Mariano collected $500 from each of the other players.
Now he needed one more consecutive victory for an even bigger payout.
The dealer gave him J3 offsuit.
Several players limped and Mariano, sitting in the big blind, decided not to take the free flop. Instead, he raised to $2,000.
One by one, every player folded.
Mariano triumphantly revealed the bluff and collected $1,000 from each of the other players at the table.
Sometimes the cards don’t matter.
Rivered Nuts Somehow Win the Minimum
The final major hand produced one of the strangest moments of the session.
Mariano picked up AK suited and three-bet to $2,100 before going heads-up with Patrick, the host of the game.
The J-8-3 flop missed Mariano completely.
He continued for $1,100 but Patrick raised to $3,650. Mariano admitted folding would have been perfectly reasonable, but ultimately decided to continue.
Patrick checked behind on the ten turn.
Then came the queen.
Mariano had gone runner-runner to make Broadway and held the absolute nuts.
Rather than risk Patrick checking behind again, Mariano led for $4,500.
Patrick called.
That turned out to be an extraordinary result for him.
Mariano showed his straight before Patrick revealed pocket queens. He had rivered top set and elected not to raise despite losing to only one realistic hand: AK.
“I should raise, but I just call,” Patrick had told Mariano before putting in the chips.
It proved to be an excellent read.
Mariano won the pot but admitted it was an unusual feeling to drag in the chips while knowing his opponent had managed to lose the absolute minimum.
Another $25,000 Winning Session for Mariano
The result added another sizeable win to the remarkable journey Mariano has documented since beginning his poker vlog.
His content has followed his progression from grinding much smaller cash games to regularly competing in high-stakes lineups, a rise we cover in our full Mariano Grandoli poker creator profile.
This session also demonstrated exactly why those videos continue to attract poker fans.
There were serious high-stakes decisions mixed with deliberately questionable plays, side games, huge bluffs and plenty of action.
Mariano estimated that he bought into the game for around $20,000 and ultimately finished approximately $25,000 ahead. He later lost around $4,000 in flips, but still walked away with a substantial profit from a few hours of Saturday poker.
Not every decision was perfect.
For a poker vlog, that might have been the point.
