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

Daniel Charette open raised from early position to 500K and Shawn Martell called. Mathieu Fournier-Gamelin went all-in with his last 780K.

Both Daniel and Shawn simply flat called and both players checked down as the board ran out: .

Both Shawn and Mathieu showed big slick – for Shawn and for Mathieu while Daniel simply mucked and the two players chopped the large pot.

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!

Ramzi Karam is the first player to be eliminated on Day 3 of Event 1. It took two hands to do the job. In the first, Mathieu Fournier Gamelin open shoved his 630K stack and was called by Ramzi from the button. Both blinds folded and the players turned over their cards.

Mathieu:
Ramzi:

The flop wasn’t great for Ramzi – it fell . The was OK but the on the river gave Mathieu the flush and left Ramzi just 75K in chips.

Ramzi managed to find folds for the next two hands, but finally shoved his last 55K and was promptly called by the player to his left, Mathieu Boucher. Action folded through the blinds and Mathieu quickly flipped while Ramzi had a hand he didn’t hate against a pocket pair: . Unfortunately for Ramzi the board ran out to give Mathieu the pot.

15th place: Ramzi Karam, $1,680

The remaining 15 players in Event 1 are taking their seats, unbagging their chips and getting ready for action to begin in the final day of this $135 + $15 No Limit Hold’em event.

There are a few interesting stories going into Day 3 action, but none more intriguing than the true “chip-and-a-chair” story of Daniel Charette. Daniel starts Day 3 with over 2.5M in chips, third on the leaderboard – but with less than 30 players left he found himself sitting with just two 5K chips – enough for two antes. He won that hand, taking down the antes but leaving the blinds for the side pot. And then he won another hand a little bit later to double up… to 80K! Evidently that was a big enough stack to fold a couple of hands, because when he went on break a few minutes later he had just 55K left.

But Daniel stayed patient and found a hand pretty soon after the break and tripled up to 160K… and chipped up some more to sit on an over 600K stack when this hand happened, and vaulted him to almost 2M in chips. We’ll be following Daniel’s progress closely today.