On Monday night, the PokerStars-powered “Big Game” returned to Fox with all new episodes. The nightly cash game program rivals GSN’s “High Stakes Poker” and features a “Loose Cannon” qualifier staked with $100,000. He or she can keep any amount made over $100,000.
A total of $800,000 was spread across the table to open the show, with Chris Rose and Joe Stapleton on the call. This week’s Loose Cannon was Troy Howard, a father of five. Howard faced off against four pros and one high-stakes amateur for 27 hands on Monday night, with 150 played during the course of the week. The action is Pot Limit before the flop and No Limit thereafter and the price of poker is $200/$400 with a $100 ante paid entirely by the player on the button. Rebuys are allowed up to $500,000.
Millionaire entrepreneur Rick Rahim was active early and often, calling bets down with bottom pair and, in the case of the first hand, firing out on the river with “squadoosh.” Meanwhile, Howard tangled with cash game aficionado Chau Giang, who raised to $1,200 pre-flop with A-K and received a call from Howard in the big blind with 9-6. Howard hit lightning in a bottle on the flop, which came 9-4-9, and donk-bet $2,500. Giang called to see a jack on the turn. Howard once again fired out, this time $6,500, and Giang, the tightest player at the table, got out of the way.
Rahim quickly dropped $20,000 out of his starting stack of $100,000, but struck back against David “Viffer” Peat. The latter raised to $1,200 pre-flop with Q-5 of hearts and Rahim made the call with A-8. The flop came 3-Q-A and Rahim bet $2,200 with top pair. “Viffer” came along with middle pair and the turn was a jack. Rahim led out for $5,200 and Peat waived the white flag.
After 20 hands of the 27 played on Monday night’s episode, Howard had a VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money into the Pot) of 45%. Rahim led the way with a VPIP of 60%, while Giang’s was only 10%. Then, Rahim called pre-flop with 9-4 of clubs, Howard raised to $1,600 with A-7, Barry Greenstein came along with K-10 of diamonds, and Rahim also called.
The flop was Q-5-7 with two diamonds and Greenstein checked his flush draw. Howard bet $3,500 with middle pair and Greenstein called. The turn was an offsuit 10 and Greenstein check-called a bet of $6,500 from the Loose Cannon with a better pair. A deuce hit on the river and the action went check-check, shipping the pot of $25,800 to the three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner.
Peat continued his pre-flop aggression, raising to $2,400 with K-4 of clubs. Victory Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari peeked down at A-Q and 3bet to $9,000. Peat made the call and the flop was 9-K-Q, giving Esfandiari second pair and Peat top pair. Both players checked to a five on the turn. Once again, the action went check-check to a river nine. Esfandiari rapped the table, Peat bet $15,000, and Esfandiari made the call, sending the largest pot of the night – $49,800 – to “Viffer.”
In the final major pot, Rahim bet $2,500 with A-8 of clubs on a flop of 8-3-K. Peat came along with K-10 for top pair and the turn was a four. Both players checked to see a five fall on the river. Rahim bet $6,000 and Peat quickly made the call, scooping the $20,000 pot. Rahim had an Aggression Factor of 8.0 on the evening, while Howard’s was 5.0. The other four players at the table all had Aggression Factors of 2.0 or less.
The PokerStars “Big Game” airs nightly on Fox. Check your local listings for more information.
