Chris Moneymaker was the big winner on Sunday night in the star-filled refresh of No Gamble, No Future Live in Las Vegas
It was the second night of a double-billing that included some of poker's biggest names, joining the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion with Tom Dwan, Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb, and Erick Lindgren.
The lineup of poker heavies was part of a new foot forward for NGNF, now led by Fox Sports 1's Nick Wright and Brent Hanks in a bigger, more interaction version of the show. Also at the center of the action is Jared Bleznick, who joins the program as both a player and one of its key sponsors.
Blez Online, Bleznick's latest venture in the sports card world, is integrated into the live show with card breaks, giveaways, a big bonus cards thrown into every bomb pot on the livestream.
Moneymaker rakes
After posting a similar win on Night 1, Moneymaker ended up dominating the leaderboard with $74,400 in profit. He was up to near $160K in total chips at one point from his $25K buy-in, but he returned to Earth in the latter parts of the stream.
The big spark for the 2003 champ came against Bleznick early in the evening, when the sports card shark put him to the test for over $37K with . Moneymaker called with
to and survived a flushy runout to start his blast to the top earning spot.
Bleznick also found his way to the right side of the ledger sheet, posting a $25,600 win on the evening. He had a lot of fun, too, as though it was a chance for Blez to show off sports cards to his poker friends.
Everyone got into the act. Lindgren, who appeared less informed on the topic, pulled the most valuable card of the night in a rare Steph Curry. He did not know much about it, but Lindgren knew it was worth money and that was good enough for him.
Hellmuth squeaks out a win
The list of big losers started with Lindgren, who lost more than $47K. He was joined by Dwan, who ended the night with just $8,400 of the $50K he put out on the table. Deeb also posted a small loss at $13K after a bigger one on Night 1.
Hellmuth almost posted a loss, but some late night magic put him just a few thousand dollars into the red.
It started at the very end of the night, just as Hellmuth was losing patience for his opportunity to double. Lindgren three-bet to $4K and Hellmuth's four-bet to $16K.
Lindgren made it $28K with and Hellmuth shoved with
. They ran it twice and Hellmuth scooped both pots before letting everyone hear it (under his breath) with just a few minutes left to play.
"Oh, one double and I'm the big winner," Hellmuth said before he turned to Bleznick.
"You run so good, Blez," he said. "You people just have no comprehension for hold'em. It's really unbelievable."
Everyone laughed a little but Hellmuth seemed serious.
"So what if you saw me never win a pot for 12 hours. You think that's just going to continue? You think I won all these tournaments by never winning pots? I play hold'em all the time. This is my game."
Hellmuth would end the night with a $2,600 win.