The Poker Star Says Goodbye Sally

The third installment of The Poker Star recently hit the box and, like previous episodes, has sparked an increase in table chatter and poker forum posts around the country.

 

The previous episode saw the contestants swim with sharks, while it would be Amanda victorious in the tournament as fire-fighter Martin exited as the second elimination on the show. This week however would revolve around bluffing.

 

Opening up with the remaining contestants at their lofty Docklands apartment being ‘themselves’ having a coffee and doing a puzzle, Shane was thrust into the limelight after being on the verge of elimination last week. The nine contestants hit the limo like normal and headed to an unknown location where they up with Joe Hachem and Lee Nelson.

 

“Bluffing. That’s what we’re here for today. We bluff in life. We bluff at the poker tables. Bluffing is telling a story that makes sense,” commented Joe, as he explained that the challenge would see the contestants applying for a job position that they wouldn’t know, and were completely unqualified for. They would need to impress and convince the interviewer that they are more than capable for the position.

 

Leading the interview – unknown to them - would be police detective and behavioural analyst Steven Van Aperen who has worked with the FBI, LAPD and US Secret Service. He drilled all the contestants as they applied for a position as a magazine editor, and once you pushed past all the buts, umms, ahhs, stalls and pauses it was obvious that they were all torn to shreds.

 

Everyone's favourite love-to-hate contestant Shane was the loser of the challenge and copped one of the worse grilling’s ever – most tells, evasive, dismissive, defensive, arrogant and belligerent were just a handful of words to describe how Shane participated in the challenge. Donna sat on the other side of the ledger as she was able to take some time out with Joe and Steven to discuss her adversaries' tells courtesy of her victory in the challenge.

 

Unlike the previous episode where there was very little poker, episode three dedicated a greater majority of the show to the tournament – and in a show about becoming The Poker Star – it was good to see how these contestants actually play the game.

 

Chris went hard early opening the first few pots but Ron stopped him in his tracks before Amanda would send him to the rail when her held up against his . Donna fell next, and received criticism by a few of the players because she was unable to put into practice what she had learnt after winning the challenge. Josh would unfortunately be sent packing thanks to a Sally brain-spasm when she three-bet all in holding over Josh’s all in shove with . “I was playing pretty solid up until that point, and hadn’t really got myself into too many pots, and at that point I was really ready to gamble” were Sally’s choice of words. Her willingness to gamble would pay off as a ten fell on the turn to see Josh exit as Shane became Sally’s next victim in one of those ugly – but good for TV – suck, re-suck, re-re-suck scenario’s when his was outflopped then rivered by Sally’s on a final board of .

 

Ron would dispatch of Katie next when he bluffed holding into Katie’s flopped Broadway straight on a flop. The turn blanked, but the river peeled the to see Katie eliminated as Ron summoned the river Gods for the second time during the tournament.

 

The two tournament winners from the last two episodes in Ben and Amanda both reached heads-up, and after both playing not to lose, Amanda would fall in second when her bottom pair failed to improve against Ben’s middle pair to see the advertising agency owner make it two-from-three.

 

Chris, Shane and Sally received the bad news that they would be in the bottom three as the remaining six contestants returned home to wait the fate of their fellow housemates. Although busting first in the tournament, Chris was quickly dismissed to see Joe left to decide between the two second-time bottom-three contestants in Shane and Sally.

 

Unfortunately for the 24-year old bookmaker from New South Wales, Sally would be the third evictee from the show as Shane was left to keep everyone watching at home entertained with his arrogant and supercilious approach to poker.

 

Since the show Sally hasn’t let it get to her as she has been travelling the country continuing to take to the felt to prove that she does have what it takes. After a deep run in the Sydney Championships and a visit down to Melbourne for the PokerNews Cup, there is no doubt that Sally will continue to battle the tournament grind and not be halted by a seemingly sour experience on the show.

 

Tune into The Poker Star every Wednesday evening on One HD or join Joe Hachem, Lee Nelson and The Poker Star contestants on the felt by simply logging onto PokerStars.