Emmerdale airs high-stakes poker game between Robert Sugden and Joe Tate with devastating outcome in early ITVX release

The Sugdens' empire seems to be expanding, following the acquisition of their original homestead - Emmerdale Farm - and now The Hide restaurant.

Patriarch Robert (Ryan Hawley) is no stranger to playing a dirty game. For weeks he gave the eatery's owner, Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham), bad business advice so that he could see its fortunes fall.

He knew that she'd eventually try and get rid of it, and took advantage of the fact she was looking to repay her aunt Nicola King (Nicola Wheeler) for her involvement in the death of her uncle Jimmy (Nick Miles).

Using £150,000 that he stole from the bottom of Jimmy's golf club bag, Robert bought The Hide from Gabby and watched her pass on the funds to grieving Nicola. His conscience cleared, he now just had to ensure that ex-girlfriend Sadie King (Patsy Kensit) didn't find out.

She wanted half of the money, and when she discovered Robert's ill-gotten gains, tipped off Gabby about his manipulation of her. Stunned by the realisation, Gabby backtracked on her offer of staying as the licensee until Robert could obtain the appropriate operational certificates himself.

At The Hide, Robert also discovered that she'd sold all of the fixtures and fittings.

In today's episode, desperate to get his hands on some cash, Robert hosted an after-hours poker game at The Hide. Local businessmen Jai Sharma (Chris Bisson) and Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) were invited, with village pensioner Claudette Anderson (Flo Wilson) also getting involved.

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Claudette won the first few rounds, before she and Jai retired from playing. It boiled down to just Robert and Joe left - and Aaron Dingle (Danny Miller) began to fear that his partner would lose everything.

Robert tried to gamble with his car, though Joe insisted that he wasn't interested and that the stakes would have to be raised if he was to continue playing. A deal was then struck - if Robert was to win, he would get £100,00 of Joe's money and get to keep The Hide. If Joe won, he'd get the keys to the restaurant.

Aaron, Sarah and Serena Sugden (Katie Hill and Casey Al-Shaqsy) warned Robert against it, though luckily, he won.

As they celebrated in The Woolpack, it transpired that Serena had swapped the cards while Joe wasn't looking, and that they'd chose not to tell Aaron and Sarah so that their reactions would be genuine.

A number of locals including ex-con Kev Barton (Chris Coghill) then entered the pub, eyeing up the bag of cash which had been stashed on the banquette. Drinks were bought, a game of darts got underway, and Robert was feeling particularly smug.

However, by the end of the evening, the bag was gone.

Who has stole Robert's money?

Read more:

• Emmerdale airs major Tate family twist - as Graham Foster returns with Joe's baby
• Emmerdale airs Vinny Dingle exit after 7 years with major sentencing twist in early ITVX release
• Emmerdale star teases "rocky road" for Sarah Sugden - and reveals hopes for Debbie Dingle return
• Emmerdale airs explosive Nicola and Sadie King scenes at Jimmy's funeral in early ITVX release

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and from 7am on ITVX.

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