Highs, Lows, and Close Encounters – Inside Team 888poker’s WSOP Main Event Journey Part 2
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Did you enjoy the first three episodes of 888poker's WSOP docuseries? If you answered yes, you're in for a treat because the fourth and fifth episodes have dropped, and you can find out more about them here at PokerNews.
Episode 4: The Bubble Approaches
The third episode ended with half of Team 888 finding themselves on the sidelines. However, there were still high hopes for Nick Eastwood, Aaron Barone, and Lucia Navarro, who bagged and tagged their stacks at the end of the second day's play.
Episode 4 takes place on Day 3 of the 2025 WSOP Main Event, and the surviving 888poker team members share their goals for the day.
Barone revealed he was going to take things steady, not coast into the money, and not try to build the largest stack in the room either. However, as he explains early in the video, those plans quickly went by the wayside.
Eastwood had mixed fortunes going into the first break, but still had around the average stack. It was curtains for Navarro, who crashed out. Navarro raised in middle position with ace-jack, and the big blind defended with king-six. The flop fell king-seven-three with two diamonds (Navarro held the ace of diamonds), and the big blind check-called the Spaniard's continuation bet. The turn was the nine of diamonds, and the big blind check-called again. A deuce of hearts river saw the big blind check again, Navarro jammed all-in with an SPR of 1, and the big blind called with his top pair.
While Navarro's WSOP Main Event dream was over, it was most definitely on for Barone, who enjoyed an incredible heater going into the final break of the night. Barone essentially tripled his stack through some solid hands and aggressive poker, to give him ample breathing room as the money bubble approached.
Eastwood finished Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event with 120,000 chips, only 15 spots off the money places. Speaking of his plans for Day 4, "Easty" said, "I'm going to fold for an indetermined amount of time, then I'm going to make $15,000, then I'm going to go all-in!"
Barone was in better shape with 862,000, which he described as "chunks." That stack placed Barone 121st from the 1,476 surviving players.
Episode 5: Two Ambassadors Remain
Barone and Eastwood head into Day 4 on the money bubble of the 2025 WSOP Main Event at the start of Episode 5. The bubble burst quite quickly, locking up $15,000 for both Barone and Eastwood, although Eastwood only had ten big blinds at his disposal at this point.
Disaster struck for Eastwood, who lost to back-to-back runner-runner hands after getting his chips in good. The popular streamer crashed out in 1,365th place for $15,000, leaving Barone as the sole Team 888poker member in the field.
After a rollercoaster day, Barone bagged 690,000 chips on Day 4, allowing him to continue his WSOP Main Event dream with 25 big blinds. Unfortunately for Barone and his legion of fans, it wasn't meant to be, and he bowed out in 326th place for $45,000.
There are only nine months until the 2026 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas; will Team 888poker return for a Main Event run? Which member will go the deepest? We don't have that long to wait to find out!
