The penultimate episode of PokerStars' The Big Game on Tour aired Friday night to viewers on FS1 before a worldwide release this afternoon on YouTube.
After last week's episode saw Dave Krosky bleed away all of his profits, only Maria Ho and Michael Ian Black remain in the black — up $54,900 and $33,700 respectively.
The rest of the table — Sam Grafton, Loose Cannon Lily Newhouse, and Phil Laak — join Krosky in the red. Laak, despite his best efforts, sits on a loss of $78,000 to start the episode, making him the biggest loser in the game by a wide margin.
Grafton goes for it
As the players approached the 150-hand mark and the end of their time on the show, Grafton and Ho clashed in a big pot. Both players started the hand with deep stacks — Grafton sitting on around $120K and Ho with over $160K.
Grafton's raise to $600 from the cutoff with 
was met with a three-bet from Ho on the button to $1,800 with 
. Grafton made the call and the dealer spread the 
flop.
Ho fired out a continuation bet, opting to size down to $1,500. Grafton pounced on her down-bet, raising to $5,500 with his bottom pair. Undeterred, Ho made the call and the two players saw the 
turn, which completed some straight draws and put two flush draws on board. With $15,100 in the middle, Grafton continued his bluff to the tune of a $7,500 bet.
After considering her options, Ho matched the bet to bring the pot to $30,100. The river came down the 
, completing the flopped flush draw and putting four to a straight on board.
Grafton moved a stack of $1,000 chips over the betting line — $20,000 to call. For Ho's exact holding, the board couldn't have run out much worse. With the in her hand, Ho could rule out the nut flush as part of her opponent's range, but there were still plenty of lower flushes, straights, and two pairs in there to worry about.
The sizable bet sent Ho into the tank, perhaps replaying the prior streets' action in her head to piece together the puzzle. As she took her time, Grafton pointed out, "It's the first pot where there's been silence on the river. We know it's a big deal."
Black then cut the tension with a well-timed joke, asking, "Sam, what do you have?" The light-hearted query drew a laugh from Grafton, along with the slightest hint of a smile from Ho as she continued to weigh her options.
Will she find the call? There's only one way to find out: head on over to the PokerStars YouTube channel and watch the episode.
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.
