Draymond Green
Poker

NBA’s Draymond Green Guest Stars on Poker After Dark

Three-time NBA all-star Draymond Green has traded the court for the felt in a surprise appearance on Poker After Dark.

Green was invited to the game by iconic poker pro Phil “Poker Brat” Hellmuth, who allegedly has been helping the NBA star perfect his poker game over the last few years.

Hellmuth also invited some Silicon Valley heavyweights such as venture capitalists Jason Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks and Rick Thompson and poker pro Maria Ho for a $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em game.

The high-stakes cash game is going on all week on poker-streaming service PokerGO.

Green Wins $23,700 Pot with Queens

While sports stars have a long history of playing poker, they don’t always have the best results.

Fortunately for Green, he was able to keep his head above water in the Poker After Dark game and played well for the majority of the session.

Green was very involved in the action and showed a willingness to bluff when the occasion called for it. He attempted to run a big bluff against Maria Ho with eight-high but the poker pro was able to successfully call with bottom pair to take down a $13,500 pot.

Draymond didn’t have to wait long to get his money back, however. In perhaps his most notable hand, he managed to go all-in with pocket queens against Rick Thompson’s pocket jacks in a pot worth $23,700. The pocket queens held up and Green scooped the pot.

The game continues all week so there’s no telling what his final tally will be in the game.

The Legendary Silicon Valley Private Game

The roster that Phil Hellmuth put together shouldn’t come as a complete surprise to anyone who follows the Poker Brat closely as he talks often about the “Silicon Valley” home game.

It’s alleged that some of the biggest players in Silicon Valley routinely play the game along with a number of Golden State Warriors including the now-retired David Lee. Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut and Steph Curry are among the Warriors who allegedly play.

You might think that would be a soft game with all the big money floating around but Hellmuth often stated that he regularly lost money in the game. It helps that many of the players in the game are certified geniuses.

The game regularly gets touted as one of the biggest home games in the world. Not quite as big as the Hollywood home game that Molly Bloom helped run (which led to the movie Molly’s Game) or some of the legendary private games in Macau but definitely big enough to scare away anyone with shallow pockets.

Poker After Dark Becomes ‘Dolly’s Game’

The Poker After Dark train keeps rolling after Phil Hellmuth’s special cash game concludes this week.

Next week the iconic Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson will host the game and no doubt bring a cadre of old-school gamblers looking to build a big stack.

Brunson, who is now 86, is one of the most famous poker professionals to ever play the game. He was at the very first WSOP in 1970, along with fellow legends of the game like Johnny Moss, Amarillo Slim and Sailor Roberts, and won 10 gold bracelets over the next 50 years of the series.

The Texas native still plays cash games but officially retired from tournament poker last year. He finished sixth in his last event at the WSOP for $43,963.

Dolly’s Game will run for two days, October 1-2, next week. It’s one of the rare chances to see one of the game’s all-time greats play, considering he doesn’t play tournaments anymore.

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