The 2025 ARIA Poker Classic kicked off May 28th, in Las Vegas and during Championship Week, BetMGM Poker hosted two gut-busting livestreams – the first a roster of content creators playfully out for each other’s blood and then a charity event featuring retired MLB players hosted at the iconic PokerGO studio.
Content Creators Take Jabs At Each Other
Poker fans were treated to a hilarious and action-packed $2/$5 No Limit Hold’em livestream with an initial buy-in of $1,000 on Sunday, June 29th. BetMGM Poker sponsored pros and content creators such as Abby Merk, Brantzen Wong, Ashley Frank and John “SlowPoker” Rand all played together for the first time.
Creators and social media stars Gregor “Greg Goes All In” Liow, Matt “Casino King” Gothard, Ian Simpson, Mateos “2Cardito” Norian, Jon Pardy and Corey Eyring were guests notorious for their cash game action.
Still Friends?
“It was a bloody blast, I love playing with my friends,” said Wong. Rand echoed Wong and said, “It was beyond fun. My only regret was missing the last hour as I blacked out after cold, four-betting with seven deuce.”
“I’m pretty sure that was the best action I’ve seen in Las Vegas this entire summer,” said Merk. “Content creators do not mess around!” Merk came out $4,000 in the black after she hit the ground running with an early double up against Gothard.
After five hours of play, there was no shortage of action with over $30,000 on the table. Pardy was the biggest winner, walking away with over $9,000. He earned a $5,400 pot the hard way when Eyring fired a $2,000 bluff on the river with ace-high and Pardy called with bottom two pair after a lengthy decision.
Liow was felted early after four-bet shoving on the button with Ad Kh and Norian called with Ac Ts. Liow looked to have the hand locked up when the flop fell Kc Kd Qh, but a Jc on the river shipped the pot to Norian, Pardy jumped out of his chair and Liow lost a pair of his trademark sunglasses to add insult to injury.
Foul Territory Hits a Homerun
The next afternoon, eight MLB players got together for the Big League Livestream in partnership with Foul Territory, a baseball podcast. They battled for bragging rights, the Golden Batting Helmet and $25,000 to their favorite charity.
A.J. Pierzynski, winner of the 2024 Borgata Big League event, was unable to defend his title against the field of Gary Sheffield, Andruw Jones, Erik Kratz, Dexter Fowler, Dellin Betances and Kolten Wong.
In total, the table featured three World Series titles, 1,489 career homeruns, 21 All-Star game appearances, seven Silver Slugger awards and a dozen Gold Glove awards.
AJ Pierzynski – The Wild Card
Jones was the first player eliminated, but one of the last to leave the table as he stayed to watch the action and cut up with Sheffield, a former teammate on the Atlanta Braves. Pierzynski was next to go in 7th place but barged back in ten minutes later, shouting, “Rebuy!” holding a whole rack of chips.
A few jaws hit the table but then he shook hands with everyone and promised to see them all in the Main Event. Wong and Sheffield were next to go from the table and four-handed play took up most of the stream. Most of the players stayed at the table after elimination trading stories.
Pillar and Betances had most of the chips in play while Fowler and Kratz played conservatively with ten to 15 big blind stacks. Betances eliminated Pillar with Kh Qh when he moved all in preflop and Pillar called from the big blind holding Kd Jd. The board ran nine-high and Betances gained an overwhelming chip lead.
Dellin Betances Closes in Relief
Fowler lost when he opened the action, Betances moved all in and Fowler called. He had live cards with Tc 8c but was behind Betances’ Kd Qs. A queen hit the flop, Fowler never improved and his elimination cleared the way for heads-up play.
The final two players took a break before heads-up play and the break lasted longer than their match. Betances had 1.5 million chips to Kratz’s 80,000 and he was eliminated in their first hand.
Betances moved all in with 7s 6h, Kratz called and was dominated holding 6s 4h. The board ran ace-high, neither connected and Betances won the Golden Batting Helmet and bragging rights.
“For me, poker’s a hobby and I was happy to be here playing with the boys,” Betances said. “I had to let them know I have a lot of little side interests that I like, so I had to win. I lost last year at the Borgata and made sure I came to Vegas and got the win.”
“KP (Pillar) was the toughest for me, but he played a lot of hands,” Betances added. “I figured him out and put pressure on him. I haven’t picked a charity out yet but with this amount, I have to make sure that it goes to a great cause.”
Pierzynski swore revenge for the next Big League Livestream and said, “I like hanging around the guys. BetMGM is an awesome sponsor with Foul Territory, so it’s just one of those things where I wanted to hang out, play some cards and see some of my teammates.”
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