Ryan Feldman, co-owner of Hustler Casino Live, revealed on PokerNews' Life Outside Poker podcast that he was kicked out of the 2016 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event over a conflict of interest stemming from his employment at ESPN.
In the 16th episode of the podcast, host Connor Richards speaks with the producer/founder of the most popular livestream in poker history about why he was booted from poker's biggest tournament, along with numerous other topics such as sports journalism, interviewing star athletes, leaving ESPN to start a poker stream, founding HCL and putting together some of the most entertaining lineups in poker history.
This interview was filmed in July at the 2024 WSOP inside Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas.
The action folded to Jose Barbosa in the small blind and he jammed for 1,295,000. Jianwei Lin was in the big blind and he asked for a count. He determined it was too much and he folded.
The following hand, Daniel Myers opened to 180,000 from the cutoff. Lin three-bet to 550,000 before Myers moved all in for 2,120,000. Lin found himself in another tough spot, and like before, he opted to preserve his stack.
Jelle Moene raised to 160,000 from the hijack and got a call from Stephen Song in the big blind.
On the K♠2♠5♣ flop, Song checked to Moene who bet 110,000. Song check-raised to 275,000. Moene then moved all in for just over a million and Song called.
Jelle Moene: A♦5♠
Stephen Song: 6♠3♠
The turn was the 7♠ giving Song the winning flush, with the 10♠ completing the board.