Playground Poker Fall Classic 2016

The Wild $150 Champion: Jean Francois Jodoin

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The Playground Poker Fall Classic kicked off on Sunday with its traditional opening tournament: The Wild $150. This edition saw 1,198 entries through 4 starting flights, generating a total prize pool of $156,878.00. Of these, 117 received a cash prize, with a cool $28,000 reserved for the eventual tournament champion.

Day 2 saw the field shrink from 268 players down to just the final 27, who returned today for the conclusion of the Event. After some quick early action, the field was reduced to the final table, with Rachid Bahaj leading the way. Maxime Heroux was a close second, and after a few short hands he found himself leading the pack. Maxime then maintained the lead until play fell 3-handed, at which point Jean Francois Jodoin stepped on the gas and started chipping away at the chip leader. They were almost even in stack until Jean Francois knocked out Mike Mirand in 3rd place, and he went into heads-up play with the bigger of the two stacks.

A small deal was made between the two heads-up players, as they decided to narrow the gap between first and second place. Play went back and forth for several orbits before both players were dealt a monster hand (and not just monster hands for heads-up play – but real premiums!). The raising war began – first Maxime min-raised to 600K, the Jean Francois bumped it up to 1.5M, which was followed by a 4bet to 3M from Maxime and finally an all-in / call. Maxime proudly tabled Ace of Diamonds King of Diamonds, only to find himself in a world of trouble versus the Ace of Clubs Ace of Hearts of Jean Francois. The flop Queen of Diamonds 9 of Clubs 2 of Spades flop was rather bleak for Maxime, and although he picked up a flush draw with the 4 of Diamonds turn, the river 10 of Hearts was a brick for him. Jean Francois won that pot, and with it he became our newest The Wild $150 champion! He collected $26,083 for his run, as well as a Playground Poker Fall Classic Champion’s Trophy.

Congratulations!

The Wild $150 Champion: Jean Francois Jodoin – $26,083.00

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The Wild $150 runner-up: Maxime Heroux – $21,000.00

Maxime Heroux
Maxime Heroux

Last hand of play

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Heads-up play: Maxime Heroux vs Jean Francois Jodoin

  • Level: 25
  • Small Blind: 150K
  • Big Blind: 300K
  • Ante: 50K
  • Chip Average: 12M
  • Remaining: 2
  • Entries: 1198

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With the recent elimination of Mike Mirand in 3rd place, The Wild $150 is now down to just 2 players!

With his recent upswing, Jean Francois Jodoin (14,850,000) leads the heads-up match versus Maxime Heroux (8,925,000), although with an average stack of 40bb, this is still anyones game.

The heads-up players decided to alter the payouts slightly to reduce the gap between first and second place. First place is now set to take home $26,083, and second place will earn himself $21,000.

Good luck!

Mirand gets knocked out in 3rd place

  • Level: 25
  • Small Blind: 150K
  • Big Blind: 300K
  • Ante: 50K
  • Chip Average: 12M
  • Remaining: 2
  • Entries: 1198

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Mike Mirand played a rather passive game 3-handed, and his stack was grinded down by the blinds. With only 2.7 million left, he called off his stack from the big blind facing a shove from Jean Francois in the small blind.

Jean Francois: 4 of Hearts 4 of Clubs
Mike: Queen of Spades 10 of Clubs

It was all but over for Mike once Jean Francois flopped a set on the 3 of Spades King of Hearts 4 of Spades 2 of Hearts 7 of Hearts board.

3rd place: Mike Mirand – $13,600.00

Mike Mirand
Mike Mirand

Kazarian eliminated in 4th place

  • Level: 34
  • Small Blind: 125K
  • Big Blind: 250K
  • Ante: 25K
  • Chip Average: 8M
  • Remaining: 3
  • Entries: 1198

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George Kazarian was grinding a short stack for several orbits, finding some key pots to pick up here and there to keep him in the game. He fell under the 10bb mark a few orbits ago, and was searching for a spot to get his chips in. Finally, with 1.6 million left to his name, he open-shoved from the button, and found a call from Jean Francois in the big blind.

George: Queen of Diamonds 8 of Spades
Jean Francois: Ace of Diamonds 6 of Clubs

Neither player connected on the 2 of Diamonds 3 of Clubs 3 of Diamonds 9 of Hearts 4 of Diamonds board, and therefore Jean Francois’ ace-high took the pot, eliminating George in the process.

4th place: George Kazarian – $10,600.00

George Kazarian
George Kazarian

Bahaj takes 5th place

  • Level: 33
  • Small Blind: 100K
  • Big Blind: 200K
  • Ante: 25K
  • Chip Average: 6M
  • Remaining: 4
  • Entries: 1198

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Rachid was left with under 10bb after doubling Mike Mirand up, and found a great hand to shove with 5-handed. Unfortunately for him, chip-leader Maxime Heroux woke up with an ever bigger hand and made the call.

Rachid: 9 of Spades 9 of Diamonds
Maxime: Queen of Diamonds Queen of Clubs

Rachid couldn’t improve on the 3 of Hearts 4 of Clubs 2 of Spades 4 of Spades 4 of Diamonds board and was eliminated in 5th place, while Maxime increased his stack to around 11.4 million.

After Rachid’s elimination, the players paused the clock to talk numbers, but no agreement was reached and play is back underway.

5th place: Rachid Bahaj – $8,000.00

Rachid Bahaj
Rachid Bahaj

88s go 0 in 3

  • Level: 33
  • Small Blind: 100K
  • Big Blind: 200K
  • Ante: 25K
  • Chip Average: 4.8M
  • Remaining: 5
  • Entries: 1198

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Moments after Fadi Haddad was eliminated from play holding 8 of Hearts 8 of Spades, Mike Mirand moved all-in with 8 of Clubs 8 of Hearts himself. George Kazarian made the call with a lesser stack, and tabled Ace of Diamonds Jack of Clubs. The board ran out 10 of Clubs 5 of Clubs 3 of Clubs King of Clubs 7 of Clubs, giving George a flush and a much needed double up.

Two hands later, Mike Mirand open shoved for under 10bb following a limp from Rachid, who made the call. This time it was Rachid who tabled 8 of Clubs 8 of Spades, and fell second best to (once again) Ace of Diamonds Jack of Clubs on a 4 of Diamonds 5 of Diamonds 6 of Diamonds 2 of Diamonds Jack of Spades board.

 

Haddad bumped out of The Wild $150 in 6th

  • Level: 33
  • Small Blind: 100K
  • Big Blind: 200K
  • Ante: 25K
  • Chip Average: 4.8M
  • Remaining: 5
  • Entries: 1198

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After losing nearly half of his chips to Rachid Bahaj on the last hand before the break, Fadi came back into level 33 as the short stack, holding a little over 5bb. Sitting in the big blind, he was faced with an open to 400K from Maxime, and a 3bet to 1-million from Jean Francois. He looked down at a pair of 8 of Hearts 8 of Spades and pulled the trigger, and after Maxime mucked his hand, Jean Francois announced the call and tabled Jack of Spades Jack of Clubs.

The board ran out 4 of Spades 6 of Diamonds 3 of Spades 5 of Diamonds 9 of Clubs, and Jean Francois’ pair of jacks held for the win.

6th place: Fadi Haddad – $5,800.00

Fadi Haddad
Fadi Haddad

Chip counts at the break

  • Level: 33
  • Small Blind: 100K
  • Big Blind: 200K
  • Ante: 25K
  • Chip Average: 4M
  • Remaining: 6
  • Entries: 1198

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The Wild $150 is on a short break following level 32, and the T5,000 chips have now been raced off. Maxime continues to lead the final 6, while Fadi and George share the short stack. With blinds going up to 100K/200K/a25K after the break, we can expect to see a lot of action as a few players have become very short stacked.

Here are the counts at the break:

First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
Maxime Héroux10,500,000
RachidBahaj5,250,000
Jean-FrançoisJodoin3,175,000
MikeMirand2,425,000
GeorgeKazarian1,250,000
FadiHaddad1,150,000

Rough counts entering level 32

  • Level: 32
  • Small Blind: 75K
  • Big Blind: 150K
  • Ante: 25K
  • Chip Average: 4M
  • Remaining: 6
  • Entries: 1198

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The Wild $150 is still 6-handed, and level 32 has just begun. Leading the field is Maxime Heroux, who holds an impressive 10-million chip stack, over 40% of the chips in play.

Here are the rough counts at the start of level 32:

First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
Maxime Héroux10,000,000
RachidBahaj4,100,000
FadiHaddad3,000,000
Jean-FrançoisJodoin2,550,000
MikeMirand2,500,000
GeorgeKazarian1,700,000

Heroux and Jodoin clash in a huge pot

  • Level: 31
  • Small Blind: 60K
  • Big Blind: 120K
  • Ante: 20K
  • Chip Average: 4M
  • Remaining: 6
  • Entries: 1198

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Maxime Heroux raised to 360K from the small blind, and Jean Francois Jodoin made the call from the big blind. Heads-up, they both check on the 4 of Clubs Jack of Diamonds 6 of Spades flop. When the Ace of Hearts hit the turn, Maxime lead out for 330K, and Jean Francois followed up with a raise to 1-million. Maxime slowly made the call, and then followed through with a check on the 4 of Spades river. Jean Francois slid forward a bet of 1.8 million, and Maxime went into the tank for a moment before finally making the call.

“Good call” announced Jean Francois, as he rolled over 5 of Spades 5 of Hearts. Maxime then tabled Ace of Clubs King of Hearts, and scooped the massive pot, putting him somewhere over 8-million in chips, leaving Jean Francois with a little over 2.2 million.