Poker After Dark: The 19th Hole

The latest release of Season 3 of Poker After Dark features the “19th Hole” series of episodes exclusively on PokerGO, The lineup boasts poker’s top golfers, that also happened to be prop bet kings according to rumors. Gavin Smith, David Oppenheim, Erick Lindgren, Phil Ivey, Doyle Burnson and Daniel Negreanu.

Back in 2008 Smith had a handicap of 14, Oppenheim 18, Lindgren played with a 15, Ivey plead the fifth, Brunson used to a have 3 and Negreanu’s handicap was 21 which has improved after years of coaching.

“All high stakes gamblers love that adrenaline rush and pressure when you have a put for $100,000 – whether it’s one foot, two feet or three feet – your knee shakes just a little bit and it makes it a little bit tougher,” Negreanu said. “That excitement is something that everyone at this table craves.”

The episodes were shot with a round of golf, where Negreanu walked away as the big winner on the course – not so much at the poker table. But not before the group pranked Shawn Sheikhan a few times by making him walk, dumping his drinks and throwing his last ball off the green.

“Sinking a 25 foot put feels so much better than trapping somebody in a hand of poker,” Ivey said. “I play so much poker all the time it’s nothing to me. When I do well on the golf course it’s fun for me. It’s a new experience – everything in golf is new to me.”

Phil Ivey’s golf game has rumored to improve dramatically from the Season 3 filming. (Photo: PokerPhotoArchive.com)
Ivey came from behind twice for the first two eliminations of the table. Oppenheim and Lindgren both flopped monsters against Ivey – Oppenhiem with a set and Lindgren with trips. But as Ivey tends to do, he filled his flush against Oppenhiem and had Lindgren out-kicked.

Following Negreanu’s exit, Brunson – the only player that didn’t join the golf outing filmed for the broadcast, lost a coin flip to Smith – which left Ivey and Smith roughly even in chips to play for the win.

Ivey pulled away from Smith and Smith trended down towards the starting stack of $20,000. Smith pulled a miracle double up while trying to bargain with Ivey for a buyout before the river card hit. Ivey declined and then made a world-class laydown to save his tournament.

But it wouldn’t last as the final hand saw both players slow playing their hands until the turn. Ivey admitted he made a couple mistakes. “I made a couple mistakes – you always make mistakes when you play poker that you regret, especially when you don’t win. You tend not to think about your mistakes when you win. So, I’m not really gonna worry about it too much.”

Watch these and other past episodes of Poker After Dark only on PokerGO, as the entire library rolls out over the coming weeks.