Andy Taylor, the first Loose Cannon on Season 3 of The Big Game on Tour, put up one of the best performances we’ve seen on the show so far.
He picked his spots well, getting out of dodge when things got too hot, firing out an occasional bluff when the opportunity was there, and, overall, he did very well in a very tough lineup, featuring crushers like Shaun Deeb, Jason Koon, and Matt Berkey.
Andy came into the final session with a profit of about $10,000, but he ran into another cooler against Koon to knock him back down to his starting stack. Given the hands and the situation, Taylor probably did well not to lose more money in that situation.
After that, he kept looking for a spot to try his luck, but the spot just would not come, and so, he reached the very final hand of the session, sitting with just over $48,000 in front of him. Taylor basically broke even over the course of 150 hands, which is an accomplishment in its own right, but, according to the rules of The Big Game, he could only take home a profit over the starting $50k.
One Big Hand to Make It or Break It
As the final hand of the whole session was about to start, Andy Taylor knew he had no room left to maneuver. He put in a blind raise to $800 over the $400 straddle, and Deeb gave him a helping hand, blind raising to $1,600.
Since The Big Game is played in the pot limit format before the flop, this action was very helpful to give Andy a chance to play a big pot.
The cards were dealt, and the first action was on Poseidon, who folded his K-9. Sean O’Malley, who was down to just over $8,000, decided to pot it, raising to $6,500. Matt Berkey in the big blind looked at his cards and saw A-T, which was more than enough to go with in this particular spot.
Berkey made it $20,000; it folded back to Andy, who put the rest of his chips in, as did O’Malley, and all of a sudden, there was a pot of over $107,000. The side pot between Berkey and Taylor was just over $80k, while the main pot had $27k in it.
Although all players had to turn their cards over, Andy did not want to watch, so he turned away from the table, while Koon and Deeb came to his assistance, turning over his cards and cheering him on.
Taylor’s hand was tabled, and it was J-T, a decent hand for this situation, but, unfortunately, Berkey had it dominated. O’Malley held 9-8 for two live cards.
The flop came A-9-7, putting Berkey further ahead, but giving everyone some hope. A king on the turn gave Andy a double gutshot. The river was a picture card, but not the one Taylor needed, as it was another king.
And with that, his adventure on The Big Game was over, while Berkey scooped another six-figure pot.
Stay Tuned for More
With the first segment of Season 3 in the books, we’ll now have a short break before The Big Game action returns. We don’t know yet who will be in the lineup or who’ll take the Loose Cannon spot, but it will be one of the candidates from previous auditions who didn’t make the cut on earlier seasons.
As for the first session, it was certainly an exciting one as Andy Taylor put up quite a fight, and if cards fell a bit differently in a couple of spots, he certainly could have walked away with a five or even six-figure profit.
And talking about profit, Matt Berkey and Jason Koon are the only two players who finished in black, bagging $193,900 and $98,100, respectively.
