Prominent US Podcaster Tim Pool Loses Big in Texas Poker Game
Tim Pool, a polarizing right-wing political figurehead with a massive audience, showed some heart in his first livestreamed poker game on Wednesday. But he exited the game on Poker at the Lodge with a sizable loss.
The prominent podcaster and host of Timcast IRL (and other shows) competed in a $5/$10 no-limit hold'em cash game at The Lodge Card Club in Texas. The game, hosted by ClubWPT Gold, was dubbed "Heart Attack Poker," and the players' heart rates were monitored throughout the four-hour session.
Pool, a West Virginian who we're told hosts a weekly poker game with his staff and occasionally plays in a local card room, competed against an experienced table that included heads-up poker legend Doug Polk, Las Vegas poker grinder Hayley Hanna, Barstool Sports personality Ben Mintz, and popular content creators Nikki Limo and Caitlin Comeskey, a PokerStars ambassador.
From Politics to the Poker Table
Pool held his own in a game against more experienced players competing in livestreamed games, but ran poorly. He posted the second-highest VPIP at the table, 48%, meaning he didn't shy away from playing hands. Only Polk, who had a 49% VPIP, voluntarily entered more pots. Mintzy, on the other hand, wasn't very active and had just a 17% VPIP.
Pool, who has 2.5 million followers on X, lost a massive pot early when he ran pocket queens into the pocket aces held by Romulo Dorea, a ClubWPT Gold ambassador. The political podcaster six-bet jammed all in preflop for $3,185 and received a call from his bigger-stacked opponent, who had him dominated.
Both players agreed to run the board twice for a $7,715 pot. Both runouts were favorable to Dorea, so he collected the entire pot, forcing Pool to head to the cashier for a rebuy after losing his initial $5,000 buy-in less than one hour into the game.
It would only take a half hour before Pool found himself facing another all-in bet, this time with A♠10♦ on a flop of 5♠A♣9♣. Mintzy had moved all in for $1,645, and Pool then stood up from his seat to do jumping jacks in an effort to raise his heart rate to the highest at the table.
He successfully achieved the desired heart rate before calling the bet way behind Mintzy's top two pair hand. The players agreed to run it twice again, and for a second straight time, Pool was unable to get lucky and lost a big pot.
Pool later had a misstep with 7♥2♥, moving all in for $1,685 against Polk, who had A♦Q♠ and called. No help would come on the board for the conservative influencer, and he was stacked for the third time.
Pool ended the session down $7,100 in four hours. Roger Nahum was the only player in the game to have lost more ($12,600). Polk, who co-owns The Lodge Card Club, finished $5,000 in the red. Hanna, a recent fourth-place finisher in the Arizona State Poker Championship, was the biggest winner, up $18,670 thanks in part to the following crazy hand.
Hanna scooped the $27,500 pot and collected a trophy for being the top winner. The Lodge Card Club, on Thursday, kicked off a $1,100 buy-in World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Championship event, a $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament that just so happens to be the first WPT event ever hosted in Texas.
