Week 2, Episode 3 - With Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, David Williams, Jason Calacanis, Abe Mosseri and Loose Cannon William Davis.
See above for the latest PokerStars Big Game episode. You can also see below for archived episodes of PokerStars Big Game.
What is the PokerStars Big Game?
The newest brainchild of Poker superstar Daniel Negreanu, the PokerStars.net Big Game is a different breed of televised poker that pits five seasoned professionals against one lucky online qualifier for a chance to walk away with $100,000 or more! Airing on the FOX Network in the US the Big Game runs late night Monday through Friday and spans the play of 150 hands over the course of the five days. The show is hosted by former “Best Damn Sports Show Period” host Chris Rose and Pokerroad’s Joe Stapleton. World Poker Tour hostess Amanda Leatherman covers the in-game interviews as well as player introductions.
The show revolves around what PokerStars has coined the “loose cannon”. This player will be an online qualifier staked $100,000 by the world’s biggest online poker site. To make things interesting the loose cannon will keep any profits he/she makes over the course of 150 hands. For example, if at the end of the week the loose cannon has a $140,000 chip stack he/she will walk away with $40,000. If the loose cannon happens to lose money or bust they will assume zero risk and another amateur will be waiting in the wings to replace their fallen comrade.
The format is simple; the game is Texas Hold’em with $200/$400 blinds and a $100 ante. The one interesting twist is Pre-Flop action is Pot-Limit, where players can only bet/raise the size of the pot, while post-flop play is No-Limit, where players can bet/raise their entire stack at any time. Negreanu explained this decision as a way to stop the loose cannon from just shoving all-in later in the game to make up for lost money. The ante and blinds will assure the loose cannon cannot sit on a small profit and wait out the final hands as well. Both straddling and running-it-twice will be allowed during The Big Game. Those familiar with televised cash games will be used to seeing players running it twice, but for those unfamiliar it is where a player is all-in and there is an agreement to deal two boards and award half the pot to the winner of each. Straddling is a great way to induce more action as it is an extra blind posted by the player UTG for two times the Big Blind.
Joining Negreanu and the loose cannon will be other capable poker professionals including 11-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth, 10-time bracelet winner Doyle Brunson, and poker characters the likes of Tony “Tony G” Guoga and Phil “The Unibomber” Laak. Negreanu made a point of noting players will not be allowed to wear sunglasses which is a first for televised poker. Other high stakes professional slotted for future episodes include Todd Brunson, Chau Giang, Antonio “the Magician” Esfandiari, Scott “mastrblastr” Seiver, Isaac “Ike” Haxton, 2009 Main Event Champion Joe Cada, and many more.
Players can qualify for the PokerStars.net Big Game at the world’s largest poker site for free! There are three qualifying rounds and the final 200 players in Round 3 will be invited to send in a casting video telling the powers that be why they deserve a crack at $100,000 or more. Give the producers something to be excited about and you could be on your way to Las Vegas to compete against the best in the world on national television. To find these satellites, open the PokerStars Lobby and under the Tournament tab select the “Regional” section and locate “The Big Game Round 1” Qualifiers to begin the process.
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