Headscratchers / Maverick

• So what was the plan with the last hand and who was in on it? We see the dealer switch the legitimate deck for a stacked deck. The Commodore is dealt three 8's, draws 2 cards and gets the fourth 8. Angel is dealt four cards to a low straight flush, draws one card, and fills it out. Maverick is dealt four cards towards a higher straight flush. Prior to Maverick requesting a new dealer, he presumably would have been given a card that wouldn't fill out the straight flush. If the planned card would have only filled out the straight or the flush, it's unlikely he'd have gone all in.
  • Since the dealer is in on the ruse, the deck might have been stacked to get an extra bet out of Maverick, before he got a dud card in the final round and the hand got heads-up between The Commodore and Angel. This would have still resulted in the elimination of The Commodore, and Angel would have been heads-up vs. Maverick with a chip advantage, and Maverick would have eventually been set up with a "cooler" hand so Angel could beat him heads-up. Notice Angel gets more and more anxious the longer Maverick stays in the hand, likely because he can't figure out why Maverick is still in. He even shoves all in, not, I think, because he expects Maverick to call, but because he wants him gone so he can take the pot and bust The Commodore. Angel's bad luck is that the card Maverick needs for the Royal is in the top of the deck, and he's unable to deal Maverick the dud card from the bottom. And because Maverick decided to take a huge gamble, it paid off for him.