PokerGO's Cash of the Titans returned to screens for the third time on Thursday evening. Alan Keating and Andrew Robl served as the big-name draws for the show, joined by a slew of regulars from No Gamble, No Future including Kirk Brown, Darin Feinstein, Justin Gavri, Andrew Pacheco, and Shawn Madden.
The Cash of the Titans format saw each player pony up an initial $100,000 buy-in at the start, with two add-ons of the same amount available for use at any time. With blind increases every two hours, Cash of the Titans is all about endurance. If any player gets cleaned out, they're out of the game.
In a twist to the format, a mid-game adjustment to the rules saw the players agree to a total of seven $100,000 bullets allowed per player. In keeping with the show's title, the volatile action at the table simply demanded more money and higher stakes.
In addition to the money in play, the seven players set aside $75,000 apiece for the side pot – distributed through bonuses earned by the profit leader on the day. With $75,000 for Day 1, $150,000 for Day 2, and $300,000 for the overall series leader at the close of Day 3, the money on the table – while more substantial – wasn't the only financial factor in play.
Andrew Robl looked like landing the Day 1 bonus but Alan Keating had other ideas.More bullets, more action
Before the amendment to the buy-in structure, when three bullets was the maximum allotment, Keating was the only player who chose to deploy the full clip from the start. Within ten minutes of the livestream's start, he had relieved Gavri of his first $100,000. In a four-bet pot, Keating stacked his opponent with 
against Gavri's 
on a 
.
Within an hour, he was back down to even. With $100K swings coming left and right, it was Gavri who verbalized the possibility of raising the cap. In fact, he wanted to eliminate it entirely.
"We should just remove it altogether. Uncapped with a side bet, a little sweetener on the side," he proposed. Keating, somehow, was the more reasonable of the two.
"To be fair, I think we should go to seven," he responded, citing the eventual blind increases as part of his thinking.
"The money is shooting in right now anyway," Gavri agreed.
It was Justin Gavri who proposed an uncapped allotment of buy-ins – and Alan Keating was more than keen to see the number increase. "I planned an entire weekend around this. I didn't realize that I was potentially going to be eliminated in half an hour," Gavri continued.
"I do think seven is sensible," Keating concluded.
"We're all grown men here. We all know our own limits," said Robl.
Keating lands 'Hail Mary' finish
With two hands remaining in Day 1, Robl had the profit lead after a productive second blind level of play. Keating wasn't about to let the title of biggest winner – nor the $75,000 bonus – slip away, however.
In the face of several limps, Gavri peeled 
and opted for a $14,000 squeeze. Keating, the last of the limp callers, came along with 
– hoping for a smash-and-grab finish to the day.
The 
flop provided an opportunity for exactly that. With top pair, Gavri fired another $15,000 into the middle and Keating quickly raised to $45,000. Before the dealer could finish counting the raise, Gavri moved all in.
Keating took half a second, but was never folding in this spot. With $534,600 in the middle, the two players could only run one board – as per the show's rules. While Gavri called for a jack, the turn 
and river 
changed nothing and Keating scooped the entire pot.
With it, he took the profit lead – and the bonus money – away from Robl by just a $5,600 margin.
Cash of the Titans returns for Day 2 action on Friday night at 8PM ET, exclusively on PokerGO.
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
