The second season of the Mystery Cash Challenge by PokerStars has been completed. After six individual sessions featuring nine regular hands and one bomb pot with mystery bounties in every session, one man emerged a big winner — Parker ‘Tonkaaaa’ Talbot.
Talbot was the only player returning to the Mystery Cash Challenge after his debut in the first season didn’t quite go to plan. This time around, ‘Tonkaaaa’ came seeking redemption, but he was also in good spirits, and the poker gods rewarded his readiness with some good run.
On top of his table winnings of €63,050, Talbot received a $10,300 Gold Pass that he can use to enter any EPT event of his choosing and, of course, bragging rights that may be equally as important to a player who never misses an opportunity to tease his opponents.
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A Sun Run from Start to Finish
‘Tonkaaaa’ got off to somewhat of a slow start, but after the first session, he was up a couple of thousand, and although he didn’t manage to win his first bounty, he didn’t let this fact influence his mood.
The second episode saw Talbot getting involved with a majority of hands, and things went his way for the most part. The most important pot of the session came against Lex Veldhuis who tried a creative bluff that didn’t work out, and ‘Tonkaaaa’s’ stack grew significantly, together with his confidence.
The last two episodes saw Talbot really come to life, though. With a profit of almost €30,000 to start the penultimate session and nearly €40k in his stack, he was looking for an opportunity to play a big one.
That opportunity came about in a three-way pot where Lex flopped middle set against Parker’s nut flush draw. Olga was in there with an open-ended straight draw as well, and all three ended up putting all of their chips in the middle.
Lex was well ahead of the pack, but the poker gods came through for Talbot once again as a non-pairing diamond hit the river, awarding him a pot of over €30,000. This was followed by him finally winning a bomb pot and claiming his very first bounty — a $10,300 Gold Pass — and the power-up giving him the ability to exchange one of his hole cards before the flop for the next nine hands.
So, ‘Tonkaaaa’ came into the final session of the Mystery Cash Challenge with a profit of almost €60k and a huge advantage, looking to add to his profits. At this point, he was already looking like a lock for the biggest winner of the season, which means the prize, another $10,300 Gold Pass, pretty much had his name written all over it.
Despite coolering Barny early into the final session, Talbot would give some of his winnings back to the table, and after the final hand was over, his total profit was just over €63,000 — pretty good for 60 hands of poker, and more than enough to claim the winner’s prize. As the runner up, Alexander Wolfgang, ended with a profit of just €6.3k.
A Poker Show That’s Unlike the Rest
The Mystery Cash Challenge by PokerStars is a fun poker show that combines different elements of the game, creating exciting and unexpected scenarios.
There are mystery bounties, power-ups, steal cards, and other things that you’ll rarely come across in your local game, and you certainly won’t find them all in one place.
It’s not the purest form of poker, to be sure, but it’s not meant to be that. This format provides an excellent viewing experience and is great for players, too, as it offers opportunities for banter, weird lines, and unexpected turns.
Season 2 of the Mystery Cash Challenge may be over, but there is plenty more quality content coming from PokerStars.
In a few weeks’ time, during the upcoming North American Poker Tour in Las Vegas, there will be auditions and subsequent filming for the new season of The Big Game on Tour, where a few more loose cannons will have their shot at making big bucks against a mixed lineup of big-name poker pros and celebrities from other walks of life.