Shawn Martell placed a raise preflop to 475K, and Steve Pouliot made the call from the button. The blinds folded and they were heads-up to the flop, which showed . Shawn, first to act, announced he was all-in, and before his sentence was over, Steve had already called and tabled . Shawn and his needed some help, but the turn sealed the deal for Steve. The meaningless river was a . Steve is now holding roughly 7M.

Daniel Charette is continuing his improbable run, as he just doubled up twice in the last few hands.

In both hands, Steve open-shoved from the small blind preflop. The first time around, Daniel’s won against Steve’s on a board. The second time around, it was Daniel’s that prevailed over Steve’s on a board.

After the second double up, Daniel was holding 12.6M in chips, while Steve had 17.3M. They decided to strike a deal at that point, taking $28,684 each, and leaving an  extra $3,500 as well as the Playground Poker Spring Classic bracelet.

Good luck!

Here is an update on the chip counts of the final table of Event 1, which is now returning from break:

• Seat 1. Kevin Blais – 2.5M
• Seat 2. Raffi Garabetian – 6.3M
• Seat 3. Daniel Charette – 6.3M
• Seat 4. Tony Stratopoulos – 2.6M
• Seat 6. Shawn Martell – 7.5M
• Seat 7. Steve Pouliot – 2.4M
• Seat 9. Derek Boucher – 1.9M

After knocking out Mathieu one hand, then open-shoving the next hand on Derek Boucher’s big blind, Steve Pouliot found himself going all-in preflop for a third hand in a row. This time it was on Kevin’s big blind, who with a stack of around 1.1M, made the call and tabled . He was behind Steve’s , but flopped two pairs for the win on a board. Kevin now has around 2.5M in chips.

WSOP bracelet winner Michael Malm has just been eliminated from the final table. He placed a raise from middle position to 370K, and Raffi Garabetian 3-bet shoved from the button. Michael made the quick call with his 2.2M chipstack, and found himself way ahead with his versus Raffi’s . The flop was clean for the kings, showing , but the on the turn gave Raffi a huge lead. The river changed nothing, and Michael was eliminated, earning $2,695 for his 9th place finish. Raffi now has just over 6M in chips.

9th place: Michael Malm, $2,695

When preflop action folded around to Steve Pouliot in the small blind, he looked over at Mathieu Fournier Gamelin in the big blind, and moved his 2.5M chip stack into the middle. Mathieu, who only had around 1M, made the call.

Steve Pouliot:

Mathieu Fournier Gamelin:

Mathieu was far ahead all the way to the river, with the first four community cards showing , but the river paired Steve, giving him the win in this battle of the blinds. Mathieu will take home $3,650 for his run.

8th place: Mathieu Fournier Gamelin, $3,650

With the blinds at 60K/120K/a20K, we saw Kevin Blais open the pot preflop from middle position to 300K, and Gaston Dumas flat call from the button. Shawn Martell then slipped in a raise to 810K from the small blind, which was enough to make Kevin fold. Gaston thought about it for a minute before competing the call, and they went heads-up to the flop. Shawn placed a continuation bet of 1M chips, and Gaston announced he was all-in for a few hundred thousand more. Shawn made the call, and they turned over their cards.

Shawn Martell: for a pair of tens
Gaston Dumas: for a flush draw

The turn and river, readind and , were blanks, and Shawn won the hand and eliminated Gaston. Shawn is now holding just over 7M in chips.

10th place: Gaston Dumas, $1,990

We have reached the final table of 10 players in Event 1 of the Playground Poker Spring Classic, and the first hand is being dealt as we speak!

Here is an approximation of the chips counts:

• Seat 1. Kevin Blais – 2.8M
• Seat 2. Raffi Garabetian – 5M
• Seat 3. Daniel Charette – 6.8M
• Seat 4. Tony Stratopoulos – 2.9M
• Seat 5. Gaston Dumas – 3M
• Seat 6. Shawn Martell – 3.7M
• Seat 7. Steve Pouliot – 1.9M
• Seat 8. Mathieu Fournier Gamelin – 1.15M
• Seat 9. Derek Boucher – 1.35M
• Seat 10. Michael Malm – 1.75M

Best of luck gentlemen!

We are approaching our final table of Event 1, as a few more players have recently been eliminated.

George Karoubalis was sent to the rail in 14th place, earning $1,680 for his deep run in this first event of the Playground Poker Spring Classic.

14th place: George Karoubalis, $1,680

Daniel Charette, who we are thinking of renaming ‘the Bulldozer’, has just cleaned out Chad Beecraft in two hands. In the final hand, Chad pushed his remaining short stack into the middle with , but couldn’t overcome Daniel’s on a board, and was eliminated in 13th place. Daniel is now sitting on over 7M in chips!

13th place: Chad Beecraft, $1,680

 

The next player to be eliminated was Chulsoo Park, when his all-in preflop was called by Shawn Martell. Chulsoo showed down , and was going to need help to beat the of Shawn, however the board of was of no help.

12th place: Chulsoo Park, $1,980

 

Mathieu Boucher just bubbled the final table of ten players, when his all-in preflop with was called by Raffi Garebetian and his . The flop gave little hope to Mathieu, as Raffi’s kings flopped a full house on a board.

11th place: Mathieur Boucher, $1,980

 

Daniel Charette’s good run is continuing here on Day 3 of Event 1. In Day 2, when the blinds were 20K/40K/a5K, it all seemed over for Daniel, when he was crippled down to one ante of 5K. But somehow he managed to rebuild and rebuild, and rebuild again! At the end of the day, he bagged and tagged 2.68M! And he just ran that stack up again, this time to well over 5.5M, after getting all his chips in the pot with on a board. He was up against the of Steve Pouliot, and ended up making a straight with the running and (while Steve made a set!).

As they say, all you need is a chip and a chair! From 5K to 5.5M, and maybe even more!