NOTE: This article contains spoilers. If you haven’t yet seen the episodes of the Big Game on Tour 2 featuring Loose Cannon Luke Moy, and don’t want to know how things turn out, stop reading and go watch them on the PokerStars YouTube channel. Then meet us back here…

Luke Moy was in a hurry. A seat in the $10K NAPT High Roller event was waiting for him and was starting any minute.

As events go, high rollers are exclusive. But Luke’s high roller experience could be measured in hours and minutes. Something not lost on Luke and his partner Lexi.

He’d spent those hours and minutes playing the PokerStars Big Game on Tour. Loose Cannon Luke Moy – the new player facing poker’s best in a cash game with everything riding on it. If you’ve seen the episodes now available on YouTube, you’ll know it was a day that asked a lot of questions.

Not least this big one…

Is the dream of the unknown qualifier winning big against the best still alive?  

Those stories are common knowledge. Almost like legends – the Chris Moneymaker story – passed down through generations. But are they still true?

Luke had got his answer. But only now, after a cigarette and some early winter Las Vegas fresh air was it clear in his head.

Which is when Lex Veldhuis walked up for a chat. Another first on a day of firsts.

But we’ll get to that. And what Lex Veldhuis was about to tell him. Because this story, with its twists and turns, had started more than a year earlier, at home in a pub in Cambridge.

Let’s go back to the beginning.

The Start of a Poker Dream

Luke and his partner Lexi have always been a team. They grew up in the same London neighbourhood, went to the same primary school, and one day plan to get married. As adults they moved to Cambridge to run pubs together.

They’re the ideal couple for the job. They like people. They like hearing people’s stories. They’re exactly who you want to encounter, leaning against a cosy bar enjoying a pint.

But there’s running a pub, and there’s owning a pub.

“It was lovely running pubs. But we were doing it for other people, and they were making the money off us.”

It was tough to walk away, and it put their dream of owning a pub on hold.

And so Luke was a bar manager without a bar. But he was also a poker player.

Winning the Trip of a Lifetime

By his own admission Luke is a casual player who enjoys a few Spin & Go’s when he has time after a shift.

But PokerStars has always presented players with exciting situations – the new Moneymaker experience. So after spinning up a free daily ticket into a Gold Power Pass, promising him a trip for two to the NAPT in Las Vegas, Luke knew this was a big opportunity.

A chance to go somewhere they’d always dreamed of going. But also to win some serious money. Maybe even enough to turn their dream of owning a pub into something more like a reality

It sounded great. There was just one problem.

A Dream Cancelled?

“We couldn’t go.”

The Gold Pass arrived two weeks before the start of the main event. “Last minute” for anyone with a regular schedule.

“We both had work commitments, and we couldn’t just drop everything. And even if we could, I didn’t feel like I was very good at poker at that point.”

But what at first felt like a disappointment was about to turn into the chance of a lifetime.

Postponing the trip until 2024 kept the dream alive and it gave him a full year to prepare. There was another advantage too.

“I got an email from PokerStars saying would I like to audition for the Big Game on Tour. I’ve watched the show and been a big fan. [I thought] I’d love to audition for that. You know, play with the stars in that big cash game.”

Suddenly, he had two opportunities. Play the NAPT Main Event, at Resorts World, one of the biggest events on the PokerStars calendar. And take part in one of the most high-profile televised cash games in the world.

The dream was back on. And it had now been supercharged.

Winning Big With a Min Cash

An opportunity like this had to be taken seriously. Up to know Luke’s poker experience had been in pubs, with the occasional trip to the casino. 

“It’s always been a game of fun. I mean, I was a gambler.”

But now he realised going to Las Vegas like Moneymaker and turning a few dollars into life-changing money would require a plan. He would need to study how to play poker — and study hard.

“There’s a lot of things out there to learn from. So I decided to leave my job in January, and I took a few months off.”

They managed to save some money, and while Lexi returned to teaching, Luke set about learning. He absorbed everything he could about poker, aiming to transform himself from amateur gambler into a serious contender.

“Basically, to study poker with the intention to luck box a min cash.”

He read books, watched videos, studied charts. He got his hands on anything the internet could provide with the word “poker” in it. 

“I went to the casinos a couple of times but I needed a lot of MTT experience, so I just grinded MTTs’s all day.”

The months passed quickly. Las Vegas edged ever closer. It was time to find out if all the effort and sacrifice had been worthwhile.

The Big Game On Tour In Perspective

The Big Game on Tour is no game show. One look at the stage, the players, and the stakes should convince anyone of its credentials as one of the world’s toughest places to play poker.

Five pros take a seat in what is a high-stakes cash game. The money they play with is theirs. The money they win is theirs. The losses they feel are genuine.

There’s a sixth player at the table, the loose cannon. An amateur player with no experience of high-stakes poker, but with one aim in mind. To survive without going broke. Any money they win when play ends they keep.

It sounds simple from the rail. But it can feel impossibly difficult under the TV lights. As Luke was about to find out.

Stage Fright and the Audition Process

First he had to get there. That meant surviving the audition.

The production team are not looking for just anyone. They want players who fit the role of loose cannon. Characters who fit the environment, who will handle the pressure, and who will make good television. Some 90 people would walk through the audition room. But only a handful would be chosen.

The audition involved various challenges that tested them on the necessary criteria. Soon enough it was Luke’s turn. After a few deep breaths he presented himself to the panel. At this point all the preparation meant nothing. For this part he had to wing it.

Asked to explain why he should be the loose cannon he found himself star struck. Looking back at him were James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton, voices he’d previously only heard coming from the speakers of his TV, not from a few feet away. Stage fright was not something you could learn from the poker books or watching pros on YouTube.

The audition was a disaster.

“I got in there and fell apart.”

Suddenly a Game He Could Win

But while Luke was sure he’d blown it, a friendly face appeared ready to change his mind.  

“Joe Stapleton reached out and he said, like look, you know, mate, calm down. You’re all right.”

The idea of the audition wasn’t to torture him. It was to get the best from him. Luke wasn’t done. As if years of running pubs had been the perfect training ground, Luke got chatty.

First he talked his way into the second round of auditions where he had to give the panel two truths and a bluff.

Things began to click. This wasn’t a contest based on luck. This was something he could enjoy.

“I was like, okay, we’re playing a game. I want to win.”

His bluff involved a story about Hugh Grant, good enough to reach round three where he had to pretend to celebrate beating Phil Hellmuth. It was an exhausting process, but by the end of it Luke got the news he’d been hoping for.

“They’ve seemed to have liked me and yeah, I got to play in the big game.”

Getting Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable

The Big Game stage looks spectacular on the screen, but it’s even more awesome in real life. The lights heat the stage beyond what air conditioning can normalise. Teams of cameras focus on your every flinch. All before you look into the eyes of the five pros who think you’re an easy pay day.

“At the table was probably the most comfortable I’ve been all week,” admitted Luke. “But it still wasn’t very comfortable.”

Hardly surprising when you saw the line-up.

“It was such an intense game. I had a couple of good hands early, and I was doing okay.”

What followed next is best watched in the episode itself.

“The action was so crazy that I had to really kind of pick my spots carefully or risk just spinning it all off to people that have a lot more money than me!”

Luke was leaning hard on everything he’d learned. All the books, the articles, the nights spent playing online. But this was a poker game like no other. You can’t practice for this.

“Lex and Allen were so aggressive and so hard to play against, and on my left! It was a really intense experience.”

The High Stakes Reality of Being the Loose Cannon

Luke was up against world-class opposition, not in the business of being nice to the new guy. Players who knew the only legitimate way to play was to destroy the hopes and dreams of the loose cannon.

It sounds harsh, but it’s also a mark of respect. Loose cannons are treated as one of their own. Even if most crash and burn, leaving with nothing but a story. The challenge is almost impossible.

And yet, there’s always that chance.

Handling Frustration

Luke admits he spent much of the game frustrated. Something Lexi, watching on from the sidelines, was all too aware of.

“I think there’s a lot of camera footage where I’m literally… my hands like this (shaking),” said Lexi. “I’m gripping the railings to try and stop the trembling. And everyone that came up [to me] wanted to shake my hand. I was like ‘you’re probably best I’m not doing that right now’!

“It was terrifying.”

But there was a good reason why it was terrifying.

Luke was winning.

Counting Down Hands

Remember, Loose Cannons are staked to play. Any money they win they keep.

Lexi knew there were a set number of hands left to play. How many to survive and how many chances to double up.

“I could see as we got closer and closer… four, three, two (hands)… You can see me counting it myself. I could see him getting more and more frustrated that he couldn’t get the hands that he wanted.”

For Luke the chances never seemed to come. The hands counted down until there were no more to play. The game ended. It was all over.

The Disappointment

Luke was the picture of disappointment. He’d done everything he could. He’d tried to get his chips in but couldn’t find a hand. He left the stage like a man beaten. Which is where Lexi stepped in.

“I was so proud of him. I was literally like jumping up and down on the side. I wanted to drag [him] away from it and just shake [him].”

Lexi, and everyone else watching, could see clearly what Luke couldn’t.

He’d just survived the Big Game. He’d walked away a winner.

But Wait…

It took a while for Luke to absorb what had happened.

“I managed to get out of a table that had Lex Veldhuis, Allen Key and Jason Koon on it. And I made money. So, I’m thinking either I was the luckiest dude in history, or I managed to learn a little something in the last year.”

Just as Joe Stapleton had stepped in with a word of encouragement in the audition earlier in the day, Luke was about to get another bit of help, from another familiar face. One he’d just been sitting next to under the TV lights.

One Last Moment to Remember

Back in the hallways of Resorts World, Luke was in a post-game daze, trying to make some sense of this extraordinary day. Lex Veldhuis came over to talk. He immediately recognised something familiar to all players, whether they’re knew to the big stage, or have years of experience.  

“He said that after the game, it’s quite an intense feeling. You need time to decompress, really understand how you feel about what’s happened and properly work things out in your head. And I was still in that phase.”

The two of them spoke for some time, about the game, but also the experience itself. Things not obvious to anyone watching from home. 

“I thanked him for taking me seriously and trying to play his best poker and really make the game hard for me. Because at the end of the day, I wanted to sit at the table with the big players and feel what it’s like to play in that big game. And boy, did I get that.”

If the dream of the qualifier stepping up to play against the pros remains, it must also be about this.

Variance can always make one session a losing one. In some ways poker is a game that never ends. But it’s also about respect between opponents. Your skill against theirs. That, regardless of money and how much you win or lose, always exists.

“I would have hated it if they had been taking pity on me or something like that, you know. Now they give me the full force of what they had constantly, and I had to tough it out.”

No more feelings of being star struck, Luke was full of admiration for Lex, getting a close up look at not just who he was but how he played, including a $150,000 hand against Alan Keating.

“That that sticks in your mind. He even he turns around to me and said, you know, there was one point where you went: “This is so f***ing crazy!”

“He’s a great dude.”

The talk, a decompression of sorts, helped Luke reflect.

“I realised I had come away from a real Sharky table and I’ve managed to nick some money. I should probably be proud of this, right?”

Right.

There was one more piece of advice from Lex. It was about the high roller event Luke was due to join.

A Great Piece of Advice

“Don’t play.”

Luke had been gifted a seat in the 10K event. It seemed tempting to a man buzzing from holding his own against top pros. But those are not the best circumstances to play an event demanding so much from players, and over multiple days.

“At first, I was excited. I was like I should do it and then I’d run into Lex and he was like, maybe you shouldn’t.”

And besides, there’s always next year. A bonus from PokerStars – a ticket to the Main Event in Las Vegas in 2025.

“So I’ve got that to basically what I’ve done for the last year. I can redo that again to a grind another year before. Trying to come and luckbox… cash the tournament again.”

Luke walked away from the Big Game with $11,000. The pub dream lives on. So does that other dream, the universal poker one, of coming to Las Vegas, playing against the best, and walking away a winner.

“It’s a lovely amount of money. We’re gonna enjoy it.”

The wedding rings they now wear are proof of that.

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