Jennifer Tilly Crushes Alan Keating In The Big Game On Tour Episode 4

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May 31, 2024 6 min read

The Big Game On Tour Episode 4 aired on Fox Sports 1 on Saturday, giving us more high-stakes poker action. Jennifer Tilly and Alan Keating were the stars of this episode, frequently clashing with each other in a rivalry that culminated in the biggest pot of the series so far.

The Big Game On Tour brings back the PokerStars Big Game show, but this time with a twist. Six players compete in a $100/$200 ($200 big blind ante) no-limit hold'em game hosted by Resorts World Las Vegas. The game lasts 150 hands and one of the six players is the "loose cannon," who has been staked for $50,000. If the loose cannon survives to the end of the 150 hands they get to keep keep any profit they have won.

Episode 4 began with the loose cannon Nikki Limo, having just given back all but $300 of her profit. However, after a pep talk from her coach, Nadya Magnus, she was ready to get back in the action.

The Action Begins...

After last week's episode, the big losers — Lex Veldhuis and Alan Keating — had just dug themselves a $130,000 and $65,600 hole respectively. Meanwhile, actor and poker fan Arden Cho was down by a relatively small $7,400. The beneficiaries of all these losses were the Chucky-franchise star Jennifer Tilly (up $145,500) and self-described GOAT Phil Hellmuth (up $62,800).

This episode started on hand 89 of 150 and set the stage for the rest of the episode.

Veldhuis raised to $600 with K♥10♦ from under the gun but didn't stay in for long. Tilly called with 7♥4♥ and Keating potted it with A♣10♣. Veldhuis folded and Tilly called.

Keating bet $4,000 into a pot of $6,600 on the flop of 4♦9♠J♣. Tilly called again and the dealer added the 8♥ to the board. Keating, who is never shy of the bluff, bet out another $11,000 with his open-ended straight draw and Tilly called a third time.

The river was another eight, improving neither player's hand. Keating backed off, giving up on the bluff and allowing Tilly to see the showdown for free. She raked in the $36,600 with her bottom pair, adding it to her now $315,000-high stack.

Keating Keeps Betting

The next few hands saw Keating hammering away preflop. On one of them, Keating raised blind from the button to $900 and got repotted by Limo with the K♣Q♣. Keating checked his cards and called with a massive stack of $100 chips and Q♦9♣ in the hole.

The flop of J♥3♥4♠ didn't do much for either player and despite the big preflop betting, the action dried up.

"I like dancing with you," Limo said, before checking. Keating checked back and they both kept on checking till the river when Limo bet and Keating folded. Limo raked in the pot which put her $2,800 in profit.

The next hand, Cho raised Keating and got repotted. She called Keating's raise with pocket queens. Both players checked the flop and turn of A♣A♠7♣J♦, but when the Q♣ came on the river things took off.

Cho bet $5,500 into a pot of $6,300 with her full-house and Keating made it $22,000 with K♣10♥ for a straight. Cho had the smaller stack, but still had $132,200 behind and was hoping to get every penny in the middle. After pondering her bet size for a moment, Cho made it $65,200 total and Keating went into the tank.

"Another bluff?" Keating asked, before pushing his cards into the middle, giving up on his third hand in a row and putting Cho back into profit too.

Ladies Interlude

A few hands later Keating took a break in his big blind. Limo raised to $700 with Q♦J♠ and Tilly and Cho called.

"You guys, it's our first ladies' pot," Cho said.

With $2,500 in the pot, the flop came down 4♣9♠J♣ and Limo bet $1,500. Cho folded her K♠3♠ while Tilly, who had his bottom pair again put in the call.

The turn was the 5♥. With her top pair still ahead, Limo bet again, this time $4,000. Tilly folded her pair.

Keating arrived back at the table moments later and put in the $400 straddle to make up for his brief absence.

Cho v. Veldhuis

Even when Keating wasn't in a pot, his autostraddle raised the stakes for everyone else. On one hand, Veldhuis raised Keating's straddle with A♦Q♠ and Cho, who had just picked up pocket queens again, reraised him to $4,900. Lex called and the dealer put out 7♥6♣6♦.

Cho didn't know she had Veldhuis dominated, but still she bet $2,400 and Veldhuis called. The turn was the 9♦, leaving Veldhuis with just the three aces as outs. Cho check-called Veldhuis's $3,300 bet and they went to the river.

On the final card of 5♥, Cho checked again and Veldhuis checked behind. Despite the slowplay, the pot was still just under $22k, a drop in the ocean of Lex's losses this series.

Hellmuth Plays A Hand

Barely a hand went by without Keating mixing it up a bit. Hand after hand saw him betting hard and running up his losses. Hellmuth on the other hand, continued to play like a rock. A pair of aces got a little action from him (though he folded before the showdown).

However, when Keating bet $900 from under the gun and Hellmuth picked up pocket fives on the button, Hellmuth did call. Tilly raised him from the small blind to $4,000 and both Keating and Hellmuth called again.

The flop came down 9♠2♣2♦. Tilly bet out and Keating called almost immediately. Hellmuth said, "If you guys are gonna give me the money, I'm gonna accept it," but then, of course, he folded.

Now it was just Tilly with A♥K♠ and Keating with pocket tens. The Q♣ came off on the turn and Keating bet $10,000, getting a call from Tilly. The 6♥ and two checks on the river sealed the deal for Keating who raked in the $44k pot though he remained down by just over $100k.

The Biggest Hand

Given his relentless involvement in the action, it is no surprise that Keating was responsible for the biggest hand of the evening. Sitting in big blind, Keating faced a raise from Tilly and a reraise to $3,200 from Cho. Keating called with K♦10♦.

On a flop of 9♦J♥3♥, Cho and Keating checked. Tilly bet $6,000, Cho folded and Keating check-raised to $24,000 with his inside straight draw. Tilly called and the dealer put out the 8♥. Keating continued his semi-bluff, with a $35,000 bet. Tilly called making the pot $128,500.

The river was a scare card — the 2♥ which put four flush cards out and Keating bet again, another $82,000.

Tilly went into the tank. She was sitting on the Q♥Jx for a high — but beatable — flush. Keating had nothing, but the hope Tilly might fold. For a moment it looked like she might. But eventually, she talked herself into sliding her chips into the middle and Keating watched her rake in a $292,500 pot — the biggest of the game so far.

After Tilly's monster win, the action trundled along for a few more hands as everyone processed the aftermath. Hellmuth won a small pot, Cho won a big one with aces, and Tilly and Keating had another (much smaller) showdown before the credits finally rolled.

When the dust settled, with 29 hands to go, the full standings were as follows:

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