This High Roller Has Lost $7.7 Million on Poker Livestreams in Just 180 Hours
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A Triton Poker cash game high roller whose father is a powerful member within the Chinese Communist Party has lost nearly $8 million on poker livestreams in just 180 hours.
This player, who hails from Wuhan, China, runs a successful business and has also performed quite well in poker tournaments. But he holds a poker record no one wants attached to their name — the most losses in livestreamed and televised poker history.
Poker Player Loses Millions Quickly
The Triton cash games are some of the biggest in the world. So, even a skilled player can lose a bunch over a small sample size. But one player has run extraordinarily badly across 77 livestream split sessions, all in Triton cash games.
That individual is Tan Xuan, who has $12.3 million in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob. It's unclear just how much of his cash game losses he's won back in tournaments, however, as the Hendon database only takes into consideration cashes.
But the overall cash game defeats on livestream have reached $7,726,922, according to HighRollPoker.com's database. The only players even close to matching his record in futility are Eric Persson ($5,587,250) and Matt Kirk ($5,087,900). Michael "Texas Mike" Moncek is in fourth place on the list no one wants to be on, sitting at $3,085,140. HighRollPoker accounts for all poker cash games dating back to the 2000s on TV and livestream.
Xuan has lost nearly $8 million across 180.50 recorded livestream hours, dating back to September 2018, the early days of the Triton series. He started off strong, winning over $550,000 in that first session, which featured $3,000/$6,000 blinds and $6,000 big blind ante. He's won numerous monster pots despite his overall losses, including a $959,000 pot with pocket aces against Andy Ni's small pair in Jeju earlier this year.
The bulk of Xuan's losses on livestream have come this year. He's down $5,672,000 over 10 sessions in just 16.5 hours in 2025. That includes three consecutive defeats of at least $1.4 million in April and May.
His worst session aired on April 21, 2025 (filmed in 2024) at Triton Jeju when he took a $1.9 million loss. The cards went against him, but he also made some questionable plays, including folding with a king-high flush draw on the turn to a half-pot bet in a bloated pot from Ferdinand Putra, who had a queen-high flush draw.
Putra would later bully Xuan with ace-high, betting $125,000 on the river to take down a pot of $413,000 against bottom pair in the $1,000/$2,000/$4,000 no-limit hold'em cash game. But the real killer for Xuan came against Seth Gottlieb, who flopped a set of jacks to crack his pocket kings in a $2,441,000 pot, one of the largest in livestream poker history.
Xuan has run into some misfortune, but he's also put himself in some tough spots. Take, for example, a hand during a May 2025 Super High Roller Cash Game in which he four-bet to $110,000 preflop with 8♥6♦ and ran into the pocket aces Sosia Jiang held. Jiang five-bet to $225,000, and took down the pot. The Chinese high roller lost an even bigger pot — $1,055,000 — to Jiang when his eight-high flush draw didn't come through on the river.
If there's any consolation for Xuan, he doesn't have the worst hourly rate when playing in televised poker games. That dubious distinction goes to embattled attorney Tom Goldstein, who is facing felony tax evasion charges related to alleged high-stakes poker winnings. Goldstein, who was masked up and known to viewers at the time as "Thomas," lost $2,731,000 over 16 hours playing on Hustler Casino Live's 2024 Million Dollar Games.
Goldstein, an American who claimed to be a "European businessman" on stream, sat mostly silently during the game, which took place just before he was indicted on federal charges. He lost an average of $170,687.50 per hour during his only public poker appearances. Xuan, on the other hand, has lost an average of $42,808.43 in his livestream appearances.
Xuan, 39 years old, has multiple successful businesses in the steel industry and financial sector. So, he likely isn't hurting much from the $7.7 million cash game losses.
Top 10 Biggest Losers in Televised Poker History
| Place | Player | Hours Losses |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tan Xuan | 180.5 |
| 2 | Eric Persson | 197 |
| 3 | Matt Kirk | 90 |
| 4 | Michael Moncek | 80 |
| 5 | Tom Goldstein | 16 |
| 6 | Esti Wang | 136.5 |
| 7 | Jack from Hustler Casino Live | 68 |
| 8 | Bill Klein | 323 |
| 9 | Bill Perkins | 111 |
| 10 | Santhosh Suvarna | 153.5 |
*Results according to HighRollerPoker.com.
