Luke Moy Locks $11,100 Then Weds in Vegas

Luke Moy locked up $11,100 on PokerStars’ The Big Game on Tour, then married his partner Lexi at a Las Vegas chapel. The UK pub manager had been staked $100,000 as the Loose Cannon, a seat built to manufacture action against Alan Keating, Jason Koon, and Lex Veldhuis.

He spent the last session folding. The black number was small, and it was also the number that paid for rings.

$48,800 in 27 Hands, Then a Full Stop

Moy’s segment of Season 2 opened on September 28, 2025, at $200/$400 with a $400 big-blind ante, pot-limit before the flop and no-limit after it. PokerStars had doubled the usual Loose Cannon stake from $50,000, so he sat with $100,000 against a lineup that included Keating’s $500,000 buy-in.

The first 27 hands were the closest he came to the show the format advertises. A bomb pot gave him the second-nut straight against Alexander Wolfgang’s third nuts. He left that episode up $48,800. He later said the biggest game he had played before this one had a buy-in equal to one big blind here.

THE LOCK-UP

• Final profit: $11,100 after 150 hands, with the last session starting at $11,500.
• Early peak: $48,800 after 27 hands, then a long bleed toward the floor.
• Hours: Five tracked hours, $2,220 an hour on the Highroll cash-game database.
• Keep rule: He keeps only what sits above the $100,000 stake when hand 150 is done.

By the finale on October 26, 2025, the lead was $11,500 and shrinking. He was not dealt premiums, and he did not go looking for trouble without them. One small pot covered the blinds and antes he still owed. He gave back $400 and stood up at $11,100.

He Folded the Winner for $50,000

The hand that would have changed the trip came about 50 hands in, when Moy was still about $40,000 above the stake with just over $140,000 on the table. Keating, who had been playing almost every pot, had the air. Moy had the winner. He mucked it.

THE KEATING RIVER

• Preflop: Moy raises to $800 from the cutoff with A-9. Keating three-bets to $3,200 with Q-5 offsuit. Wolfgang calls in the big blind with pocket eights, and Moy calls.
• Flop: J-9-4 with two hearts, checked through. Moy has middle pair.
• Turn: A black ace gives Moy two pair. He bets $2,000. Keating raises to $15,000 with nothing. Wolfgang folds. Moy calls.
• River: The king of hearts completes flush and straight draws. Keating overbets $50,000. Moy folds the winner after a short tank.

A call scoops a $140,000 pot and puts him into six figures, which he could then protect by folding the rest of the way. He still sat more than $18,000 above the stake after the muck. The pressure of tossing tens of thousands into a pot, on a stage where his opponents do that for a living, ended the hand.

He did take a shot at Keating later, bluffing him with six-high, a hand he still talks about as the fun one. The two-pair fold is the one that paid Keating instead of the chapel fund.

Veldhuis Walked Him Through the Straddle Math

On the last episode, Veldhuis, the Dutch high-stakes regular and PokerStars ambassador, broke down the only way a short remaining sample turns a small lead into a large one. If Moy wanted another big pot, he had to make pots large before the flop, including by posting straddles.

Moy did not post them. He had already told the table what the lead was for. “If I win big, I’m getting married out here in Vegas,” he said. “My partner’s made that very clear.”

If I win big, I’m getting married out here in Vegas. My partner’s made that very clear. This could really change the course of the rest of my life, and I have to try not to think too hard about that.

Luke Moy, Loose Cannon, The Big Game on Tour finale

The Loose Cannon chair is sold as chaos. Moy ran it like a till close, and the official posts that followed treated the chapel walk as the product. Viewers who wanted a punt through 150 hands got a lock-up. PokerStars still got the ending it could cut.

How a Cambridge Pub Manager Reached a $100,000 Seat

Luke and Lexi grew up in the same London neighbourhood, went to the same primary school, and moved to Cambridge to run pubs together. He had worked in pubs for 15 years and run them for about eight or nine. “It was lovely running pubs. But we were doing it for other people, and they were making the money off us,” he said.

A Power Pass ticket earned him a trip to Las Vegas for the North American Poker Tour. They could not go. “We couldn’t go.” Postponing the trip gave him a year. He left the pub job in January and spent months studying, aiming at a min-cash, until an email asked if he wanted to audition for The Big Game on Tour.

THE YEAR THAT GOT HIM THERE

1. A Power Pass to the NAPT: A ticket to Las Vegas lands, then a reluctant no, because they cannot make the trip.
2. January, away from the bar: He leaves the pub job and studies, with Spin & Gos after shifts as the old routine.
3. The audition email: PokerStars asks if he wants to try out. Ninety players show up. He freezes on the first pass. “I fell apart. Completely froze.”
4. Joe Stapleton: The commentator calms him down. A Hugh Grant pub story gets him through two truths and a bluff. He fakes a celebration against Phil Hellmuth. The call comes: he is in the Big Game.
5. September 28, 2025: His episodes start airing, filmed during the NAPT in Las Vegas, with commentary from Stapleton and James Hartigan.

PokerStars later published the full path from pub manager to Loose Cannon, including the rail, the rings, and the seat that followed the cash game.

Luke Moy faced poker’s biggest names on the TV stage, as the Loose Cannon on the @PokerStars Big Game on Tour.

This is how a pub manager from Cambridge ended up battling the best in Vegas 🧵 pic.twitter.com/Xj44zRoeXl

— PokerStars Blog (@PokerStarsBlog) October 30, 2025

The Rail Already Knew the Payout

Lexi watched every hand. “I was gripping the railings to stop my hands from shaking,” she said. When the last hand was done, Moy thought he had failed. He had not. He had lasted 150 hands against Koon, Veldhuis, and Keating and left with a profit.

I was gripping the railings to stop my hands from shaking.

Lexi, Luke Moy’s partner, to PokerStars

Veldhuis stopped him outside the studio. “You need time to decompress,” he said. “You did great.” Moy thanked him for taking him seriously. “That meant everything.” He said he had just left a table with Koon, Veldhuis, and Keating, and made money. The PokerStars crew then followed the couple into the Little Chapel of Hearts, a family-run chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard a few minutes from the Clark County Marriage License Bureau.

The wedding was the condition Lexi had posted before the first card. A win, even a modest one, unlocked it. “It’s a lovely amount of money. We’re gonna enjoy it,” Moy said. The Highroll database has him down for tracked $11,100 over five hours.

The Same Table Paid Veldhuis $149,900

Moy’s number looks different beside the rest of Part 2. Veldhuis, who had been waiting to pick off Keating, stacked a $142,000 pot with a flopped pair of queens during the fold episode and closed the five-episode set as the big winner. Chance Kornuth joined late and still left ahead. Keating, who bought in for five times Moy’s stack, finished only slightly in the black after a week of bluffs that did not all get through.

PART 2 FINAL TALLY

Wolfgang, playing the highest stakes of his career, lost his $100,000 bullet and did not rebuy, leaving after 57 hands. Morgan Jay, the musician and comedian, went to zero over the full 150. Koon, the toughest technical player in the room, finished $53,200 down. The amateur who was supposed to feed that table was the only Loose Cannon in the set who still had a take-home number.

A $50,000 river call is a hard spot for anyone who does not live in these games, and anyone who needs help for a gambling problem should use it. Moy’s choice kept him above the line that made the chapel legal, not cinematic.

Wedding Rings and a $10,000 NAPT Seat

PokerStars added a $10,000 North American Poker Tour Main Event seat on top of the cash-game profit. The blog said that haul was enough to buy wedding rings. The couple now wear them.

The third Season 2 Loose Cannon, Luke Wakelin, later sat the $50,000 version of the stake and was eliminated after 59 hands, finishing -$50,000. Jordan Handrich, who had the first seat of the season, lost her stack and took nothing home. Moy is the Season 2 cannon who left Las Vegas married and paid.

He still talks about the six-high bluff. The two-pair fold is the hand that would have bought a much larger share of a pub. He took the rings instead, and the $11,100 is still on the ledger.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if a Loose Cannon finishes at or below the stake?

They keep nothing. The show stakes each cannon, $50,000 in the standard rules and $100,000 for Moy’s doubled segment, and the player takes home only the amount above that figure after 150 hands. A bust or a scratch is a zero, which is how Handrich’s run ended.

What are the betting rules on The Big Game on Tour besides the blinds?

Action is pot-limit before the flop and no-limit after it, with a big-blind ante equal to the big blind. In Moy’s set that meant $200/$400 and a $400 ante. If a cannon doubles on hand one, the rules allow folding the other 149 hands and locking the profit, which is why a single river call can end the gambling for the rest of the shoot.

How much does a wedding at the Little Chapel of Hearts cost?

Listed packages run from $50 to $777, not including minister fees, limousine driver fees, or add-ons, and the chapel sits at 2207 S. Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89104. It offers Elvis ceremonies, vow renewals, and pretend ceremonies, and it is licensed by Elvis Presley Enterprises.

What happened to the other Season 2 Loose Cannons?

Jordan Handrich, first in the chair, lost her $50,000 stake and took home no profit. Luke Wakelin, the third cannon, went out on hand 59 of his 150 and finished -$50,000 against a lineup that included Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari. Moy’s $11,100 is the only Season 2 Loose Cannon cash that survived the full sample.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of a televised cash-game session and a wedding, and it is for information only. It is not gambling advice, bankroll advice, or a recommendation to play high-stakes poker, to enter a stake arrangement, or to treat a televised result as a typical outcome. Anyone considering cash-game play, a staked seat, or travel tied to gambling should consult a qualified financial adviser and, if play is becoming a problem, a licensed gambling counsellor before acting. Figures and statuses here reflect the session results, player quotes, and tracker pages used for this piece and can change if a later official accounting is issued.