Daune Fernandez has been a frequent “big event” player at Playground Poker for some time now, and he’s had a tremendous amount of success over the past couple of years – and today, he added another feather to his cap by winning the $70 + $10 NL Hold’em 8-Max event.

Daune flew under the radar for most of the early going in the tournament, but when the stakes got higher as the money approached, he vaulted into the lead and didn’t let go.

8-Max Champion Daune Fernandez, $1,390

Daune Fernandez and Daniel Soussan play heads-up

With Yvan Savard’s elimination in 10th place, players are now merged onto the final table of the 8-max. Yvan did not leave empty-handed, as $10 were taken off each prize to form a $90 paid bubble.

Here is the final table seating chart:

Players in the 8-max took a short break, and they are looking to earn a spot on the 9-handed final table. Daniel Soussan is firmly in the lead, as the following table indicates:

Michael Hunter went all-in from the button with about 65K, and Nicolas Cimon called rather quickly from the small blind position. Jason Mottershead also committed his chips, sitting in the small blind with a micro stack of 24K.

Michael Hunter:
Nicolas Cimon:
Jason Mottershead:

Board:

Jason tripled his chips, but is still under average. Nicolas got the rest of Michael’s stack, sending him to the rail a few positions from the final table and the money.

Rene Theberge is sitting on a decent stack after taking out two players back-to-back on Table 58.

In the first hand, Rene showed down facing the held by Daniel Tisch. The flop was largely positive for Daniel – and the kept him in line for a double up… until the river dashed his hopes and gave Rene the pot.

Two hands later, Rene also took out Larry Raymond when his Kings made a set to beat the Aces held by Larry.

With 24 players left, there are just 3 tables left in the tourney.

Kyle Bordeau was in a good spot holding on a flop, and when Andre St-Jean shoved, Kyle snapped of the call in record time – he was facing Andre’s .

There was no joy for the Aces, however – and no drama, either, as the came out straight away on the turn and the meaningless river didn’t swing things back in the other direction.