The latest episode of PokerStars' The Big Game on Tour saw action resume with Maria Ho topping the profit/loss column with winnings of $50,800, good for a slight lead on Dave Krosky's $42,500 profit. The only other player in the black is, fittingly, Michael Ian Black, who remains up $33,100 after an early set-over-set cooler in his favor against Ho.
Heat 2 Loose Cannon Lily Newhouse enters the third episode of her tenure having bled off $18,300 of her $50,000 stake, but there's still plenty of time for her to turn it around. High-stakes professional Sam Grafton is in the red as well, down $22,600 and the Unabomber himself, Phil Laak starts the episode in an $85,500 hole.
Laak doing Laak things
Laak managed to chip away at his deficit early in the episode in a hand that harkened back to the old days. Laak has always been known for his unique playstyle and his dynamic table presence, in particular his one-of-a-kind table talk. In this hand, audiences see that side of him on full display once again.
From the cutoff, Laak raised to $600 with 
and picked up two callers, Krosky on the button with 
and Newhouse from the big blind defending with 
. The three players shared cards between them and the 
flop provided both Laak and Krosky with gutshot straight draws.
Newhouse, still in the lead with ace-high, checked over to Laak, who failed to notice the action was on him as he was just getting into his theory of the universe. "All things that have happened, already did happen," explained Laak. "The last hour, it was the only way it could happen in the universe. And the next hour already happened — oh, is it on me?"
After realizing it was his turn to act, Laak placed an $800 bet with his gutshot. Krosky called the $800 with his gutshot and Newhouse folded her ace-high. The turn 
saw the action go check, check and the river 
completed Laak's straight.
"That's a perfect bluff card. I'm going to go for it with an overbet that no one calls ever in a million years," announced Laak as he threw $12,000 worth of chips across the betting line. Krosky didn't like the spot, but his interest was piqued. "I'll show you either way. If you fold, I'll show you," said Laak. Eventually, Krosky's curiosity proved his undoing as he matched the $12,000 bet, only to see the bad news.
The Big Game on Tour airs Friday evenings on Fox Sports 1, followed by a global release on the PokerStars YouTube channel the following morning.
