Playground Poker Fall Classic 2016

Lefrançois crowned Champion of the High Roller

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Pascal Lefrançois and Mark Radoja played heads-up for about a half-hour. For those two to end up playing heads-up was a natural outcome, as they played a lot of hands together since the formation of the final table. They were constantly testing each other in a variety of different scenarios, as if to prepare for the match to come.

They started the heads-up match with even stacks, and were playing for $8,000.00, having split the rest of the pool evenly. Playing 10K/20K/a3K, there were 61 big blinds in play. They played rather small, seeing a lot of flops, dancing around. Radoja was the first to get a significant lead, getting to a 3 to 1 ratio pretty quickly. But then Lefrançois fought back, and eventually tables were turned, favoring Lefrançois by the same margin. After losing a few more blinds, Radoja set a trap from the button, limping on it. Lefrançois took the bait, and shoved from the big blind, for an effective bet of 12.5 big blinds, as Radoja had 250K left. Radoja simply opened his hand:

Mark Radoja: Ace of Spades Queen of Spades
Pascal Lefrançois: King of Diamonds 3 of Diamonds

The board came 9 of Hearts 6 of Diamonds 6 of Clubs 3 of Clubs 10 of Spades, hitting Pascal just enough to give him the pot, and the two friends immediately stood up to shake hands. In this way, Lefrançois was crowned Champion of the Playground Poker Fall Classic’s High Roller Event, taking the High Roller title from Marc-Étienne Mclaughlin who had won that Event here during the World Cup of Cards.

Mark had to leave to prepare for an upcoming trip, so he gave his drink to Pascal, as they had just ordered one each. Pascal went ahead and offered it to one of the Bounty hunters in the adjacent tournament. We hope that this person will go on and win the tournament, thus having a really nice story to tell.

Congratulations Pascal!

The High Roller Champion: Pascal Lefrançois – $128,000.00 and the High Roller Trophy

Pascal Lefrançois
Pascal Lefrançois

Runner-up: Mark Radoja – $120,000.00

Mark Raduja
Mark Radoja

Last hand of play:

e15-5874

Greenwood shoves, Lefrançois calls

  • Level: 23
  • Small Blind: 10K
  • Big Blind: 20K
  • Ante: 3K
  • Chip Average: 615K
  • Remaining: 2
  • Entries: 41

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Blinds being 5K/10K/a1K, it was pretty hard for Lucas Greenwood to hold his own, having a stack that oscillated between 100K and 200K. He found ways to stay afloat, but eventually Lefrançois caught him, calling his 140K open shove from the small blind into his big blind.

Lucas Greenwood: Queen of Diamonds 9 of Spades
Pascal Lefrançois: King of Spades Jack of Diamonds

The board helped both, but kept Lefrançois ahead: King of Clubs Queen of Clubs 4 of Spades 6 of Diamonds Ace of Spades.

When handshakes and congratulations were exchanged, Lefrançois and Mark Radoja counted their respective stacks, favoring Lefrançois by only 8K with 1.23M in play. They decided to chop the remaining prize pool in half, keeping the obligatory 8K on the ice for the eventual winner. They also asked the tournament director to double the blinds, which was granted.

Lucas Greenwood goes out in 3rd place of the High Roller Event, taking home $56,000.00 for his achievement.

Congratulations!

Lucas Greenwood
Lucas Greenwood

Ari Engel eliminated from the High-Roller in 4th place

  • Level: 19
  • Small Blind: 4K
  • Big Blind: 8K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 410K
  • Remaining: 3
  • Entries: 41

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Ari Engel has added another score to his long list of world-wide cashes, as he placed 4th in the Playground Poker Fall Classic High-Roller Event.

Sitting in the small blind with 105K (13bb), he pulled the trigger with Ace of Diamonds 10 of Spades after Mark Radoja had opened to 17K from under the gun. He was met with a snap-call when action got back to Mark, who tabled King of Clubs King of Hearts. The board showed 4 of Hearts 3 of Clubs 3 of Spades Queen of Diamonds 8 of Spades, bringing no help to Ari and eliminating him in 4th place.

Mark now holds around half the chips in play.

4th place: Ari Engel – $40,000.00

Ari Engel
Ari Engel

Radoja takes the lead

  • Level: 19
  • Small Blind: 4K
  • Big Blind: 8K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 308K
  • Remaining: 4
  • Entries: 41

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Our final 4 are now on break, and the updated counts put Mark Radoja in the lead. After winning a major pot against Lefrançois, he took a couple of smaller ones and is now on top. Play resumes at 4K/8K/a1K in 2 minutes.

First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
MarkRadoja495,000
PascalLefrançois422,000
AriEngel207,000
LucasGreenwood105,000

Lefrançois gets eroded

  • Level: 18
  • Small Blind: 3K
  • Big Blind: 6K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 307.5K
  • Remaining: 4
  • Entries: 41

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A pretty big chip shift just occurred. We missed the beginning of the hand, but when the Jack of Clubs turn was added to the 6 of Clubs 4 of Hearts 6 of Spades flop, Lefrançois led with 62K from the big blind position into a pot of about 100K. Mark Radoja called, and the river was a 7 of Spades. Lefrançois checked it, and Radoja went to the tank. After about a minute, he announced 84K. Lefrançois immediately called, as he was trying to induce a bet by checking. When Radoja showed 7 of Diamonds 6 of Diamonds, Lefrançois let out a moan, and showed his own 6 of Hearts 8 of Spades.

He said that with the 84K sizing, he never thought he could lose the hand. Brutal river for Lefrançois, but he still leads the 4-way with about 500K. Radoja got much closer, sitting on about 450K.

Hall eliminated with AK vs AA

  • Level: 18
  • Small Blind: 3K
  • Big Blind: 6K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 307K
  • Remaining: 4
  • Entries: 41

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Caitlin Hall raised her button to 14K, and found a 3bet to 40K from Pascal Lefrancois in the big blind. She weighed her options before 4betting to 94K, having started the hand with a hair under 250K. Pascal replied with a 5bet all-in, and Caitlin made the quick call.

Caitlin: Ace of Spades King of Hearts
Pascal: Ace of Hearts Ace of Diamonds

Board: 6 of Clubs 6 of Hearts Queen of Clubs 3 of Spades 5 of Spades

Pascal increased his lead with that pot, and now holds around 700K, which represents roughly 60% of the chips in play.

5th place: Caitlin Hall – $32,000.00

Caitlin Hall
Caitlin Hall

Final 5 take a break; Chip count update

  • Level: 15
  • Small Blind: 2.5K
  • Big Blind: 5K
  • Ante: 500
  • Chip Average: 246K
  • Remaining: 5
  • Entries: 41

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Pascal Lefrancois
Pascal Lefrancois

The final 5 players in the High-Roller Event are now on a short break. Pascal Lefrancois is still sitting atop the leaderboard, and now has just shy of 450K, which represents more than 1/3 of the chips in play. Mark Radoja and Caitlin Hall are hovering around the average, while Lucas Greenwood and Ari Engel make up the short stacks.

All 5 players are still well in contention in this event, as the average stack represents a huge 50bb, with the shortest player holding a little more than 20bb.

Here are the full counts entering level 15:

First Name | PrénomLast Name | NomStack | Tapis
PascalLefrancois449,500
MarkRadoja264,000
CateHall238,000
LucasGreenwood175,500
AriEngel103,000

Peter Chien min-cashes

  • Level: 16
  • Small Blind: 2K
  • Big Blind: 4K
  • Ante: 500
  • Chip Average: 246K
  • Remaining: 5
  • Entries: 41

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Although play is rather deep in-the-money of the High-Roller, with 300 big blinds in play in this 16th level, Peter Chien was by far the shortest player of the final 6 with a stack just north of 10 big blinds. From under the gun he moved-in all but 500 of his 46,500 stack, and found a call from Mark Radoja next to act. The rest of the players mucked and play went heads-up. Peter jokingly checked dark before the King of Hearts 10 of Spades 8 of Diamonds flop was brought out, but obviously made the call once Mark threw in a bet.

Peter tabled Ace of Diamonds 9 of Diamonds, and needed a runner-runner if he were to survive versus Mark’s Ace of Clubs King of Diamonds, but no such luck came and he was drawing dead on the 8 of Spades turn (river Queen of Clubs).

6th place: Peter Chien – $24,000.00

Peter Chien
Peter Chien

Zinno bubbles the HR

  • Level: 16
  • Small Blind: 2K
  • Big Blind: 4K
  • Ante: 500
  • Chip Average: 246K
  • Remaining: 5
  • Entries: 41

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After a little less than a level of play on the direct bubble, Anthony Zinno has been eliminated in 7th place. He had just about 33,000 in his stack, and after his shove, Pascal Lefrancois made a very quick call and the blinds both folded.

Anthony: Ace of Clubs 2 of Diamonds
Pascal: 10 of Clubs 10 of Spades

Anthony received a tiny sliver of good news on the 2 of Diamonds King of Diamonds 9 of Clubs but got nothing more in the way of help on the 5 of Diamonds 10 of Diamonds.

The rest of the field is now in the money and the min-cash is $24,000.

Anthony Zinno
Anthony Zinno

Martin Raus eliminated 2 from the money

  • Level: 15
  • Small Blind: 1.5K
  • Big Blind: 3K
  • Ante: 500
  • Chip Average: 175K
  • Remaining: 7
  • Entries: 41

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Martin Raus
Martin Raus

Martin Raus’ stack dropped to just a handful of big blinds, and sitting in the cutoff in an unopened pot he moved in with his last 17,500. Pascal Lefrancois made the call from the button as the action closed heads-up.

Martin: Queen of Spades 6 of Spades
Pascal: Ace of Diamonds 9 of Spades

Board: 9 of Clubs Ace of Spades 6 of Clubs 5 of Diamonds 10 of Diamonds

With this elimination the High-Roller is now 7-handed and on the bubble.