Alexandra Botez Back at the High Stakes Poker Tables with Mystery Cash Challenge

Famous poker pros, including Sam Grafton, Maria Ho, and Parker Talbot, are diving into a unique poker format that melds high stakes cash games with a mystery bounty twist. Among these renowned faces, chess influencer Alexandra Botez is taking her seat at the poker table.

Alexandra is widely recognized for her Twitch channel botezlive, where she collaborates with her chess-playing younger sister, Andrea. Their diverse content ranges from chess and IRL segments to board games with fellow streamers and even shooter games like Valorant. Boasting a whopping 1.3 million followers, the Botez sisters’ involvement is sure to boost poker’s visibility and appeal.

Lineup for the first episode of Mystery Cash Challenge.

In this innovative poker format, the initial nine hands function as qualifiers for the monumental 10th hand dubbed the “bombed pot”. Every player must ante up €100, with a mystery prize and a bonus pot sweetening the deal. The player winning the most hands seizes the advantage in the “bombed pot,” playing from the button; in case of a tie, the player winning the most recent hand gets the best position at the table.

Players buy in with €10,000, blinds are at €25/50, and 6-max hold’em is played.

In a candid interview, Alexandra said she enjoys playing poker more than chess but acknowledges she still has to learn a lot about poker and delve deeper into its intricacies. In one of the hands, Alexandra advanced to the inaugural bombed pot with a bluff on a turn, prompting Grafton to fold his K-high reluctantly.

As fate would have it, the cards favored Alexandra in that same bombed pot. The table saw a flop of 7s3h8c, positioning Alexandra with a promising 9s8h hand.

A subsequent series of bets and raises climaxed with Alexandra making a tense call against an all-in, ultimately pocketing a remarkable €20,225 pot. Additionally, she clinched the €500 mystery prize. Botez also secured a Bonus Prize, empowering her to silence a fellow player for nine hands. Her choice? Parker “Tonkaaaa” Talbot.

Watch the first episode of Mystery Cash Challenge below.