Twitch streamer Alexandra Botez had an exciting time at the poker felt at the Commerce Casino this week. Despite being best known for the award-winning chess content she makes with her sister Andrea, Botez has proven herself to be a solid poker player too, and recently signed to GGPoker as an official Global Ambassador.
Early Excitement for Sapnap
One of the earliest dramatic hands took place when Sapnap called for 200 with king-queen of clubs and Classy did the same with jack-ten offsuit. Alexandra Botez raised with ace-three of diamonds and it was a terrible flop for the chess grandmaster as it landed T-9-4 with two clubs.
Yassou bet for 4,000 with ace-six, Sapnap calling with the flush draw. A turn of an offsuit seven saw Yassuo bet again now for 7.500 and Sapnap called to a deuce of clubs on the river. Yassuo bluffed the river with an all-in bet and while Sapnap took his time but called to win a huge pot of 77,600 chips.
Sapnap was a thorn in the side of several players, as really only Margaux Brooke made it out of the early levels avoiding him. Classy lost several pots but was super-active and his VPIP was heavily rewarded in a hand against Ben. After a board of J-5-4-3-5, Classy shoved with pocket fives and Ben folded to the huge overbet from Classy, who showed the table quads.
Botez Not the Queen Tonight
“I need to stop calling all-ins, that was dumb.”
Alexandra Botez busted in fifth place when she moved all-in with ace-queen and was against Sapnap’s pocket kings. A flop of Q-J-T paired Botez’ queen for top pair but opened up the straight draw for Sapnap. Sure enough, the turn was an ace to give Botez two pair but Sapnap the Broadway straight. The Canadian needed one of two kings left in the deck to chop the pot but an innocuous three on the river saw her eliminated just outside the money places, and she donated a medal of honor to her tablemate to congratulate them.
“Botez doing all the work to bring everyone together today and she’s despatched!”
At this point, play was on the bubble, with Sapnap (140,900) leading from Classy (108,200). Nate Hill (74,300) was some way back, but Margaux Brooke was the definite short stack with just 19,400 chips.
Shortly after Botez’ departure, Brooke had bullied her way up to 38,600 and three-bet shoved with pocket aces. Classy called it off with pocket sixes and as he berated himself for being so loose, a board of K-J-T-9-A played out.
“I need to stop calling all-ins, that was dumb.” Classy admonished himself, as Brooke went past him in the chipcounts.
Nate Hill had to make a move when short and shoved with queen-jack. Called by Sapnap with ace-king, Hill needed help but couldn’t find it as the board of 7-6-2-3-2 played out and he departed for nothing.
“You guys win, good game.” Nate Hill said on his way out.
“Fun playing with you.” Brooked replied.
Brooke Bags the Win
“[From] almost losing it all at the end, I managed to win my first poker tournament!” ~ Margaux Brooke
Classy shoved early in three-handed play with ace-deuce of clubs, getting through another bold move. He had the worst of it with ten-six of clubs moments later but he had more chips than Sapnap with ace-queen and when the board came 8-6-5-7-6, Classy had all of Sapnap’s chips, sending his opponent to the rail with the third-placed score of $3,000.
Heads-up, the battle was decided by a blind battle where Brooke had a 3:2 edge with queen-three of clubs with the stacks almost level. Classy needed to improve with the ten-seven and on a board of 4-2-2-5-9, Margaux had the win but couldn’t bring herself to celebrate until the chip-count confirmed it. That gave Brooke the $15,000 top prize, with Classy picking up $7,000 as runner-up.
“After almost eight gruelling hours of going from short stack to chip leader, with no less than five all-ins and then almost losing it all at the end, I managed to win my first poker tournament!” said Brooke on her Insta account shortly afterwards.
“I could not be more excited and to take home $15k on top of the victory was the cherry on top that I never could have expected. Thank you so much [Alexandra] for inviting me to your Creator Tournament… I had an absolute blast playing with all of you and hope to do it again soon!”
If you want to watch exactly how Margaux Brooke came back from short stack to winner then check out the full replay right here courtesy of Bally Live Poker!