Has Alan Keating become 'the James Bond of poker'?

Mo Afdhal
Posted on: April 2, 2025 14:23 PDT

Rejoice, fans of Alan Keating – your savior has provided once more. 

In his latest video, Keating takes viewers on a journey through his second day of filming for High Stakes Poker at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. Keating's new video eschews the vlog-style format of his last installment – instead offering a comprehensive breakdown of several hands from his session on the show. 

While some viewers may have hoped for another day-in-the-life style video, Keating's insight into his gameplay provides just as much entertainment. 

'Coming off of a high' 

In the opening frames of the video, we hear from Brent Hanks as he describes Keating as both "the James Bond of poker" and "the classiest degenerate in the building" – two monikers that only a guy like Keating can really pull off convincingly. 

Hanks' likening of Keating to Bond isn't unreasonable either. Aside from a few key differences – no spy craft (that we know of), no English accent (that we know of) – Keating inhabits the role well, most notably in his enigmatic persona off the felt. Information about Keating's personal life is hard to come by and any attempt to unearth additional nuggets will invariably lead to a Reddit thread full of users cracking bad jokes and positing even worse theories. It's the mystery and intrigue surrounding him that really makes the Bond comparison work. 

Keating then goes on to explain his excitement for the second day of taping the show. Spoiler alert: he wants to tangle with Peter Wang. "I'm coming off of a high from Day 1. I took Peter's left leg out with the nine-seven and I'm coming for the right," Keating tells the camera. 

For those who missed the episode when it aired a couple weeks ago, Wang and Keating duked it out in a $911,000 pot that saw the latter make an insane hero call with just third pair. As soon as the hand hit the airwaves, it took the poker world by storm, with some hailing it as one of the greatest poker hands ever played. 

High Stakes Poker Peter Wang Alan Keating and Peter Wang have an on-felt rivalry brewing.
Antonio Abrego

While most of the pots that Keating breaks down don't go his way – in fact, he dusts off about $500,000 in short order before taking a short break from the game – the video sets the scene for a follow-up that will reveal a reversal of fortunes for him. On the latest episode of High Stakes Poker, Keating and Wang managed to build an even bigger pot – a record-breaking $1.4M hand

While Keating doesn't cover that hand in this video, it's clear that he has something in the works for it based on the closing teaser. Stay tuned to hear his thoughts on winning the biggest pot in the history of High Stakes Poker

Images Courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO

Watch
WSOP Main Event 2024 FINAL TABLE - A Champion is Crowned [$10,000,000 FIRST PRIZE]
Expand
Move
CloseClose
arrow-right
arrow-left
Watch
Tom Dwan's big pots : The Biggest Pot EVER Televised
Expand
Move
CloseClose
arrow-right
arrow-left