The conclusion of today’s $200 + $30 + $100 NL Hold’em Bounty tournament was a little unorthodox. Normally in Championship events, deals are permitted but any deal must leave a small portion of the total prize pool and the Trophy to the winner and the tournament must be played to a conclusion with a definitive winner. The deal that was made with 3 players remaining conformed to this standard.

However, when Mike Saragossi and Jason Trottier got heads-up, Trottier had about a 2 to 1 lead. They played for about 10 minutes, with some chip exchange in favor of Saragossi, when they asked if there was any way to chop the rest of it. Trottier said he was interested in the Trophy, so they agreed that Trottier would take the full first place prize – but in exchange for the bounties Jason had collected during the tournament – a $900 value. This almost exactly offset the extra value of the traditional prize pool that had been reserved.

In this case, due to the obvious willingness of both parties to conclude the tournament in this manner, and the inherent fairness of using Jason’s bounty chips to make up the difference in the reserved portion of the prize pool, tournament staff made an exception and allowed the tournament to end immediately. Mike forfeited his stack, collected the 9 bounty chips from Jason – and Jason was the champion in the event. The Champion’s photo features Jason posing with his favorite hand.

Event 17 Champion: Jason Trottier – $8,196.00 and the Champion’s Trophy

Runner-up: Mike Saragossi – $7,245.00 (+$900)

After the chop was settled, play accelerated a little bit. Jean-Luc Joseph had , and went all-in with it. It just so happened that Jason Trottier had   in the hole, so he called. The board came .

Joseph gets 3rd place and his secured money, $7,245. Nice payday for a nice performance. Good job!

When Jean-Luc Joseph raised all-in from the button, Martin Dyotte made the call from the big blind.

Jean-Luc Joseph:
Martin Dyotte:

The board was revealed: . Joseph spikes a king on the river and chips up, while Dyotte walks away with the 4th place money, $4,160. Great job!

Before playing another hand, players agreed to chop the rest of the pool 3-way, keeping $950 for the winner, who will also take the Champion’s Trophy.

Nectarios Lazaris went all-in with the very decent , which was called by Martin Dyotte from the small blind with . The board came . Lazaris was left with 1 eighth of a big blind, which was lost the next hand.

He takes 6th place, and goes home with $2,360. Nice run!

Then it was Gianfranco Giordano who bit the dust. When Jason Trottier min-raised to 160K, Giordan called, and so did Mike Saragossi. The flop was checked by all 3 players. On the turn, Giordano went all-in, which sent Saragossi to the tank, he finally folded, and Trottier called right away, and tabled . As it turned out, his flop check worked perfectly, since Giordano was on a pure bluff. He had , and was drawing dead. He finishes 5th, and takes $3,140 for his efforts.

Congratulations to both of you!

Saragossi and Trottier are now well in front of Jean-Luc Joseph and Martin Dyotte.

Malawai only had 125K when she went all-in with . She got called by . The board did not help her, and she is now going home with a cool $1,340 and a great smile.

The hand after, Bob also made a move. He had and Jason Trottier had . The best hand won, and Bob made yet another deep run, cashing $1,780 this time.

Good work!

The final table has been playing for some time without a bust now, and then it happened. Gianfranco Giordano raised all-in from mid-position. Ian Tang also went all-in from the cut-off, well covered by Giordano. And then Paul Dalrymple, after some deliberation, also committed all of his chips, having less than both of his opponents.

Gianfranco Giordano:
Ian Tang:
Paul Dalrymple:

The board that the dealer put down was quite a drama: . Giordano flopped a set, Dalrymple turned a nut flush draw to go with his top pair, and to make matters worse for Tang, he rivered his own set. Some hand!

Paul Dalrymple had less than Tang, so he takes 10th place and $760. Tang takes 9th and $1,010.
Congratulations both!

The final table of the Bounty is now underway. The last Fall Classic Trophy will be awarded soon. Who will make it his – or hers?

Eliminated money finishers:

15th: Robert Earl Nilsson – $650
14th: René Morin – $650
13th: Moshe Cohen – $700
12th: Quian Dong – $700
11th: Chad Beercraft – $760

The Bounty is now down to 17 players. They just came back from a break and we took that opportunity to build a seating chart, including full counts.

Eliminated money finishers:

24th: Tommy Coulombe – $440
23rd: Julien Lauzon – $470
22nd: Patrick Cartier – $470
21st: Charan Malhotra – $510
20th: Ara Asatoorian – $510
19th: Marton Szlavy – $550
18th: Alex Chiasson – $550
17th: James Bélanger – $600
16th: Goran Brestovac – $600

At 8K/16K/a2K, Jason Trottier opened to 40K from the small blind. Antoine Labrie went ahead and shoved his 140K, holding the very capable . Trottier called the difference, having a strong stack and the price being right. He had . The flop was promising for him: . The turn hurt Labrie in a big way, as he was now reduced to 2 outs for half the pot. After the fell on the river, Antoine Labrie walked away as the bubble boy with a badbeat story.

The rest of the field is now in the money. Here are some pictures of those players and of some recent eliminations:

Going into level 17, we scanned the room to find the biggest stacks. The tournament is down to 4 tables, and Jean-Luc Joseph leads with over 300K. It’s nice to see the stacks of collected Bounties, most of which are on the tables, proudly displayed by the hunters.