Rick Salomon Kicks Off "Perks of the Trade" Week in Style

Poker After Dark promised to be bigger and better than ever with the introduction of “Perks of the Trade” week and indeed it was. The $300/$600 blinds were just a starting point for action as all six players in the lineup bought in for at least $300,000 and the straddle fireworks ensued from there exclusively on PokerGO.

The name behind this week’s theme, Bill Perkins, sat centerstage as action flanked around him with Perkins dipping his toe in the big pot pool every once in awhile.

The primary catalyst for action in tonight’s game was Rick Salomon, who bought in for $500,000 to start the night and was involved in major hands right away. Salomon was unafraid to juice up the action at any time and raised the stakes consistently with his patented sleeper straddles.

With two cashes in $1,000,000 buy-in One Drop events, Salomon is no stranger to high stakes and showed off his fearless streak when he ran a three-barrel bluff on the chatty Haralabos Voulgaris early in the session.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again. Three barrels (and some ??) for the #PokerAfterDark win https://t.co/TeDeb5Xmhx pic.twitter.com/YLkTOfXEQY

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) October 18, 2017

Voulgaris held the best hand but was no match for the aggression of Salomon, who was active in the majority of hands during the session.

Salomon won that hand and his persistent style paid off in spades later on when he won a $926,200 pot against Aaron Zang. Zang held a set of eights and was up against the turned straight of Salomon. Salomon held the best hand as Zang could only watch and pray for the board to pair.

??Another (almost) $1 million #PokerAfterDark pot??
Rick Salomon and Aaron Zang collide during “Perks of the Trade.” https://t.co/TeDeb5Xmhx pic.twitter.com/TixYYbMAQG

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) October 18, 2017

The game was full of talk the whole night and even when larger than average pots broke out, cross chat still dominated the lively group.

Phil Galfond and Voulgaris battled in the second-largest pot of the night when Voulgaris was dealt pocket aces at a most opportune moment and stacked Galfond in a pot weighing in at over $700,000.

After a few early hits, @haralabob‘s aces held in another massive “Perks of the Trade” pot #PokerAfterDark https://t.co/TeDeb5FLpZ pic.twitter.com/T0fdpfgGXU

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) October 18, 2017

Galfond exited the stage following the pot and Voulgaris held on to book a win for the night. 

Previous Poker After Dark participant Brian Rast arrived a few minutes late to the game and jumped in the action immediately as his alter-ego “Brian Blast” made a few appearances.

“Perks of the Trade” week returns on Wednesday, October 18 and Thursday, October 19 only on PokerGO starting at 6 PM ET. If you missed the first night’s action, the episode is available on-demand inside the PokerGO library.

Other players scheduled to join the action this week are Doug Polk, Brandon Adams, and Matt Berkey. Stay tuned to Poker Central and PokerGO for all updates and announcements as the largest game in Poker After Dark history gets set to return.