The PokerStars Big Game, also known as the PokerStars.net Big Game or simply the Big Game, is a poker television program sponsored by Pokerstars.net originally airing on Fox Network. The program had a tie-in to the Pokerstars North American Poker Tour (NAPT), which was shut down by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York after the second, 2011, season had been filmed. The PokerStars.net Big Game did not return after the second season.

Format[edit]

The Big Game book. Read 52 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. When Quark holds a poker tournament on Deep Space Nine someone from al. The Big Game is a high-stakes poker cash game played in the 'Bobby's Room', a cardroom named after Bobby Baldwin, at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. In 2010, the game partially expanded to 'The Ivey Room' at Aria Resort and Casino.

The Big Game pits an amateur, known as the 'loose cannon,' who plays 150 hands of no limit Texas hold 'em poker against five other players, each of whom stake their own money. These five players are mostly professionals although well-heeled amateurs also play occasionally. The game consists of thirty hands per day over the course of five weekdays.

To become a contestant, the would-be loose cannon must be a citizen of the United States or Canada.^[1] He or she must first make it through three free qualifying rounds on PokerStars.net, placing in the top 300 in a daily tournament, then in the top 1000 on Saturday, and finally in the top 200 on Sunday. The remaining 200 send in video auditions, from which the producers select the contestant for the week.^[2]

Hearthstone will show the Big Game starting with doors at 2:30 p.m. $85 F&B minimum with tailgate food specials available (along with their regular menu). Reserve your spot now. The Big Game is a weekly $500K GTD tournament, with phases starting from just $5.50. You are currently on partypoker529.com. Visit our New Jersey website here to register and play for real money. When the Big Game came along, High Stakes Poker was already a hugely successful show format. The idea of the biggest names in poker sitting down with six-figure stacks, playing for huge pots was a.

The loose cannons are each staked $100,000 and keep all winnings in excess of this initial amount. To prevent the loose cannon from simply going 'all in' (betting everything) immediately, betting is pot limit before the flop and no limit after the flop. The minimum buy-in for the other players is $100,000 and the maximum is $500,000. They may rebuy up to $500,000. The blinds are $200/$400 with a $100 ante which is paid for all players by the player on the designated dealer 'button'.

The highest-earning loose cannon at the end of the season wins an additional prize, a North American Poker Tour (NAPT) 'passport' valued at $50,000, consisting of entry fees and expenses for various NAPT tournaments. In season one, if a loose cannon had a profit after 150 hands, they had the option of returning the next week for a chance to further increase their winnings.

Season one[edit]

In the conclusion of the first season, on the last day, Bob Ferdinand won two all-in hands and doubled his money twice to take the grand prize. He first went from losing over $30,000 to winning over $40,000 when he made a straight on the flop, which improved to a straight flush on the river. A few hands later, he was dealt pocket aces and was lucky enough to have another player pick up pocket kings, leading to a gain of over $140,000 when the flop came A66, giving him a full house. His final total profit of $181,500 easily exceeded the $129,600 won by David Fishman, who was in attendance.

Four loose cannons came away with some money, with Nadya Magnus in third position with $63,600, followed by Ernest Wiggins with $50,300.

Among the professionals who played were Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Tony G, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Laak, Jason Mercier, Daniel Negreanu, and Barry Greenstein. Most (but not all) of the professionals are sponsored by Pokerstars.

Season One Loose Cannons[edit]

Week 1:Ernest Wiggins from Washington D.C. He became interested in poker while he dated a professional player, and now he competes in local home games where he has been somewhat successful.

Total Winnings:$50,300

Week 2:William Davis from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He spends most of his time playing poker in medium stakes home games and online. He is now trying to make a living playing poker.

Total Winnings:Busted by Daniel Negreanu

Week 3:Nadya Magnus. Magnus has had the poker fever ever since she visited Las Vegas in 2008. She now regularly plays in the U.S, and has won a ladies event in the 2009 World Series Circuit Event.

Total Winnings:$63,600

Week 4:Troy Howard. He is a music producer from Lansing, Michigan. Howard started playing poker with his friends. They started their own amateur league, where Troy has become a regular player.

Total Winnings:Busted by Rick Rahim

Week 5:Aaron Jensen. Jensen is a competitive poker player from Seattle, Washington. He has had a good amount of success at the poker table, where he has picked up five-digit winnings at several live events.

Total Winnings:Busted by Daniel Negreanu

Week 6:Andre Capella. He has been an amateur poker player for many years. He has placed in several events in places such as Reno and Lake Tahoe.

Total Winnings:Busted by Dani Stern

Weeks 7 and 8:Russell Harlow. Harlow is a delivery driver from Manchester, Connecticut, where he resides with his wife and three kids. He aspires to own his own farm one day, but for now he intends to use his twenty years of poker experience to provide for his family. Harlow became the first and only loose cannon to come back another week after ending Week 7 with a profit of $16,400, but was busted on the final day of Week 8.

Total Winnings:Busted by Barry Greenstein

The Big Game Poker Amanda

Week 9:Elizabeth Houston from British Columbia, Canada. She spends a lot of time in a casino perfecting her game, which she claimed to have learned from her hero, Doyle Brunson.

Total Winnings:Busted by Daniel Negreanu

Week 10:David Fishman. Fishman is a cancer survivor from Tempe, Arizona, where he teaches mathematics. He considers his ability with numbers to be his biggest advantage at the poker table.

Total Winnings:$129,600

Week 11:William Given. Given is from Lincoln, New Brunswick and has also lived in Germany. He enjoys sports and poker, and planned to put any winnings into a store that will sell hobby gear that will include poker.

Total Winnings:Busted by Doyle Brunson

Week 12:Bob Ferdinand. He is a bus driver from Revere, Massachusetts. He has two kids, and is recently retired. His focus is now on becoming a full-time poker player.

The Big Game Poker Cast

Total Winnings:$181,500

Season Two[edit]

The rules were changed so that loose cannons no longer had the option to come back for another week.

Season Two Loose Cannons[edit]

Week 1: Gonzales Cannon II, an online qualifier from Sacramento.

Total Winnings: $155,200

Week 2: Courtney Gee. Based in British Columbia, Canada.

Week 3: Jared Huggins. A native of Manhattan Beach in California.

Week 4: Massimiliano Martinez. A medical student at university in Rome.

Total Winnings: $163,200

Week 5: Cari Bershell from Las Vegas and works as an Admissions Officer at DeVry University.

Total Winnings: $26,900

Week 6: Ken Hrankowski. A retired police officer from Maple Ridge in British Columbia.

Total Winnings: $53,300

End of The Big Game[edit]

A key feature of The Big Game had been a NAPT passport to the season champion Loose Cannon. The NAPT passport, valued at $50,000, consisted of entry fees and expenses for various NAPT tournaments.

On April 15, 2011, along with similar competitors' sites, Pokerstars.com was seized and shut down by U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which alleged it was in violation of federal bank fraud and money laundering laws.^[3] The company subsequently stopped allowing players from the United States to play real money games.

The NAPT immediately ceased operation, eliminating the main prize for The Big Game's loose cannon. The second season had been filmed prior to the charges against Pokerstars, so this final season was able to run in the months after dismantling of the NAPT.

References[edit]

1. ^'Terms'. PokerStars.net.
2. ^'Frequently Asked Questions'. PokerStars.com.
3. ^Ben Rooney (April 15, 2011). 'Online poker companies indicted for fraud'. CNNMoney.com.

The Big Game Poker Show

External links[edit]

From April 11 through 13, the Montesino Casino in Vienna hosted the PartyPoker Big Game VI, a 48-hour cash game that was streamed live on PokerNews. The event gave a laundry list of pros, amateurs and locals their shots in the game, and Phil “Unabomber” Laak emerged as the biggest winner with over €160,000 in profit; not only that, he was the only player to play the entire 48 hours.

The cash game kicked off at 18:01 CET and featured a minimum buy-in of €5,000 and max of €20,000. The blinds were €25/€50 with an optional €100 straddle, and the following lineup kicked off the action: Laak, Eugene Katchalov, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Daniel “Jungleman” Cates, Sam Trickett, Alec Torelli, Ignat “0human0” Liviu and Iliodorous Kamatakis.

Within the first 40 minutes, Trickett, who had been playing almost every hand, became the first player to rebuy after losing his initial €20,000, most of which could be found in Laak’s stack; in fact, after the first hour, the Unabomber was up €19,450.

The first notable pot came an hour and a half into the final table when Torelli held and the flop fell . His opponent, Liviu, led out holding and Torelli just called, bringing about a on the turn. Again Liviu, who had improved to a straight, led out and Torelli flatted, leading to the river. With a straight on the board, Torelli moved all in and Liviu, no doubt expecting a chop, made the call. Torelli raked in the €30,700 pot.

One of the best twists of the PartyPoker Big Game is that the participants and viewers are given the opportunity to vote off players. The first elimination period came five hours in and was a player vote, meaning everyone at the table cast a vote for the player they’d like to see leave. It was close between Cates and Kamatakis, but ultimately the latter was dispatched, opening the door for the boisterous Tony G to enter the game with €20,000. It was also at this time that Grospellier and Katchalov opted to leave the game, giving Marc Gork, Roberto Romanello and Damir G the chance to take a seat.

At 2:58 a.m. CET, the largest pot up until that point developed when Cates raised to €800 after a double straddle and everyone made the call. When the flop came down , Torelli led out for €3,100 holding and Tony G moved all in with . Torelli made the call after action folded back to him, and they decided to run it three times. The first brought the and , giving the pot to Torelli, and the on the second run gave Tony G a win. It was at that point they were informed the rules stated they could only run it twice, so the €51,325 pot was chopped.

Damir G busted a short time later, leaving a €17,000 loser, and then 15 minutes after that, a huge hand took place. It happened when Torelli held and was looked up by Laak, who was holding . The flop was gin for Laak, giving him the nuts. Laak check-raised, building the pot quickly. The turn saw even more money go into the pot, before Laak moved all in for €36,000 on the river. Torelli thought for about three minutes before making the call, only to lose the €100,000-plus pot.

Over the next few hours, JP Kelly took a seat, Romanello became the second person voted off (this time by viewers), and Yusuf Kurt and Vladimir Geshkenbein both came and went. By the time 7 a.m. CET rolled around, Laak was up €93,375 and was far and away the big winner.

As the day wore on, local pot-limit Omaha specialist Todirita Catalina took a seat, and Torelli, was the next victim of the player vote, leaving a €3,000 winner. That opened the door for Sorel Mizzi to join the game, and Liviu decided to rejoin.

Tony G took his leave about 16 hours into the cash game but didn’t leave a winner. In fact, there were only four winners up to that points: Laak (+€118,550), Romanello (+€25,575), Liviu (+€15,575) and Grospellier (+€8,925). Catalina was the next to go after he ran into the of Mizzi on a queen-high flop, leaving the game six handed for a while.

Eventually Cates decided to take a leave of absence after dropping approximately €60,000, and his seat was filled with World Poker Tour host and PartyPoker Pro Mike Sexton. About a half hour later, the next viewer elimination took place and Mizzi was voted off, giving way for 20-year-old French pro Basil Yaiche to join.

Sexton got involved in one of the biggest pots up until that point, but it didn’t go his way. With three limpers, Sexton raised to €2,000 with . Trickett and Kelly made the call with and respectively, bringing about the flop. Both players then called a bet from Sexton, the dealer turned the , and Kelly fired out €8,000 after both his opponents had checked. Sexton responded by moving all in for €15,000 total, Trickett got out of the way and Kelly made the call. The river changed nothing and the €50,000 pot was sent to Kelly.

From there, Sam Chartier took a seat and Mizzi was allowed to rejoin the action. Furthermore, Yaiche gave up his seat and allowed 2010 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel to sit down, while Liviu was voted off by a near-unanimous player vote and was replaced by Tony G, much to Mizzi’s dismay.

Big Game VI Eliminations

Mizzi and Tony G tangled a little later on when four players saw a flop of , which inspired some betting and raising. With about €14,000 in the pot, the hit the turn. Tony G proceeded to check-raise all in and Mizzi called off.

Showdown

Mizzi had been drawing dead and opted not to rebuy after the meaningless river card was put out. That allowed Saar Wilf to enter the game, though he would last less than 10 minutes as he quickly dropped two €5,000 buy-ins.

Sexton and Trickett each decided to quit the game a short time later, the former going to work the WPT Vienna booth while the latter’s departure meant Laak was the only man from the original lineup remaining. That meant there were two open seats, but not for long as Torelli returned and high-stakes U.K. player Andy Moseley took a seat.

In the next notable hand, Torelli and Duhamel each put in €2,000 preflop and went to a flop. Duhamel put out a bet of €3,000, Torelli called, and the hit the turn. Torelli made a flush with his but trapped with a check-call, leading to the river. Again Torelli checked and Duhamel put out a bet. This time Torelli check-raised all in and Duhamel, who was committed, called of his stack with the inferior . Torelli took down the €108,000 pot while Duhamel exited the Big Game.

The WSOP champ was replaced by Big Game veteran Bodo Sbrzesny, who had emerged a winner every time he played in years past, while Scott Seiver, who had won the PartyPoker Premiere League just two days earlier, bought into the game for €10,000.

As it got later, players began to exit including Chartier (who left with just €700), and action was left five handed. That’s when perhaps the most memorable hand of the PartyPoker Big Game VI developed, one that Laak may never live down. He folded the winner at the showdown in a €60,000 pot.

During the early morning period, things slowed considerably as action dropped to three handed. It was during this time that Trickett managed to erase his losses in a single hand. It happened when all three players committed €1,000 preflop and saw the flop come down . Torelli bet it with , Trickett called holding , and Laak folded his .

The Big Game Poker Season 2

When the turned, Trickett check-called a bet of €6,000 and then watched Torelli fire out a huge bet of €25,000 on the river. Trickett made a quick call, and just like that, he was nearly even in the game.

At 8 a.m. CET, Trickett and Moseley saw a flop of with Moseley check-raising a bet with , which was in great shape against Trickett’s . The turn saw Moseley slow down with a check-call of €4,200 before the river gave both a flush. Moseley checked, Trickett bet €12,100 and Moseley check-raised to €23,300. Trickett jumped out of his seat and seemed to know he was beat, even talking out the hand, but made the call nonetheless and Moseley took the €63,300 pot.

Hours later, the table started to fill back up for the final push of the Big Game VI. Cates rejoined the action looking to recoup some of his losses, but dropped another €25,000 in just an hour. Cates ended up being involved in one of the match’s most memorable hands when he folded to Tony G’s inferior on a king-high board.

Not only that, but Cates ended up the biggest loser of the Big Game VI, dropping $83,250.

Here’s a look at the final results of the PartyPoker Big Game VI:

The Big Game Poker Week 6

Big Game VI Results

The Big Game Poker Bellagio

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_{*Picture courtesy of the PartyPoker Blog.}

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