The Big Game on Tour by PokerStars has been one of the most exciting shows we’ve had the pleasure of watching this year. But as all things have to come to an end, we are now just one episode away from wrapping things up for 2024.
Last weekend, we saw the penultimate episode of the second part of the season, featuring Lily Newhouse on her quest to make a profit over 150 hands of $100/$200 No Limit Hold’em.
Over the course of her three sessions of The Big Game on Tour, Lily wasn’t catching any breaks. In fact, she came across several coolers. In a different setting, her stack would have probably been gone by this point, but a friendly and chilled atmosphere at the table helped her stick around.
If you’d like to watch the full episode and avoid the spoilers, scroll down to the bottom of the page, or proceed on to find out how the latest episode of The Big Game on Tour played out.
The latest episode brought more of the same. Newhouse was more active and was getting in a mix more, but poker gods gave her few breaks to speak of. Despite all of it, she’ll be heading into the final session with over $40,000 in her stack, and this is the best time to pick up some big hands and maybe find herself on the right side of a couple of coolers.
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The Struggle Continues
Right off the bat, Newhouse made it very clear she would no longer be sitting around waiting for big hands. Instead, she was ready to take things into her own hands and make things happen.
In one of the first hands, she saw a flop with 5c2c and flopped an open-ender. She played it aggressively, raising Black’s continuation bet, and this move would often give her a pot. Unfortunately, Maria Ho, the third player in the pot, flopped bottom two, and she wasn’t going anywhere.
The turn brought another four, and Maria boated up, meaning Lily was once again drawing dead. Luckily, the action checked through, and the river bricked out for Newhouse, so she didn’t lose any more money in this pot. The way things were going for her, it was a surprise not to see an ace or a six peel off.
Soon after, Krosky managed to bluff her off a pot where they both had the same hand, and Lily had the betting lead. Yet, somehow, somewhere, Dave managed to find a turn min-raise with complete air to deny the loose cannon.
Midway through the session, Newhouse took a timeout to vent her frustration to Nadya Magnus, her coach and biggest supporter present in the room.
Despite all the hardships, Lily managed to pick up a few smaller pots by the end of the session, and she will be coming back for one last time with over $41,000 in front of her and just over 30 hands to play through. She just needs one or two of those to go her way, and her mission as the PokerStars loose cannon will be accomplished.
Sam and Maria Go Toe to Toe
Although Lily was struggling, the pros at the table didn’t make it a point to go after her chips. While they certainly weren’t opposed to taking her chips, they weren’t avoiding each other, either.
In the final hand of the day, Sam Grafton got involved in a fun hand against Maria Ho. Maria had everything going for her, as she had position on Sam and she started the pot with the best hand in poker — pocket aces.
Sam, who opened the action, called Maria’s 3-bet with a measly 4d5d and managed to just connect with the flop that came KsTc4c. However, he had mischief in mind.
After checking to Maria, Grafton went after her $1,000 continuation bet, making it $5,000. Maria called, and the turn brought the 9s. This card certainly did not help Sam’s actual hand, but it did make the board a bit scarier, so he continued with the bluff, firing away $7,500. Once again, Maria called.
The river was one of the scariest cards in the deck as it fell Jc, completing the potential clubs’ flush draw and putting a four-liner to the straight on the board. It was as if the poker gods decided to reward Grafton’s efforts with the perfect bluff card.
Sam fired again, this time for $20,000, almost a pot-sized bet. With Grafton showing so much strength and the board going from bad to worse, Maria had no option but to release her pocket rockets, and after asking to see one card, Grafton turned over the 5d.
This was enough for Ho to know she was bluffed, as Sam wasn’t opening and then calling a 3-bet out of position with Q-5.
There is no lack of action happening at The Big Game table, and this is good news for Lily as she heads into her final session. There should be plenty of opportunities to build big pots, and she needs to put those chips in the middle soon!