The heads-up match started to Piquette’s advantage, as he had taken a few of the deep runners out. He was playing 3.8M, while François had about 1.4M. With the blinds at only 20K/40K, it would be possible to hope for a nice, long, grueling match, but the cards that were dealt and the way they were played decided otherwise.

A very short while after the money and trophy were brought to the table, they went at each other’s throats. Piquette min-raised from the button, and Lemyre-Charest 3bet to 200K. Piquette decided to set the tone and went all-in. Although he did not want his opponent to think that he could get away with 3bets, he was holding the very potent , so he was probably hoping that François put him on exactly that line of thinking, allowing for a wide calling range. And he did. He called off his then 1.3M stack with , and Piquette found himself a big favourite for the win.

The dealer slowly unveiled the board: .

Jean-Philippe Piquette, a professional player from the eastern parts of Montreal, who has been playing at Playground Poker Club since its opening, was crowned Champion of the $500 + $50 Freeze, and took down the cool sum of $28,420.00, adding to an already impressive career.

François Lemyre-Charest is also a well-known player here at Playground Poker Club, and we can imagine that his $20,045.00 winnings will have him surfing clouds for a while. He can be proud of himself, only having been bested by none other than Jean-Philippe Piquette, who had his picture on one of the room’s walls for a number of years.

Congratulations to both!

 

Event 7 Champion: Jean-Philippe Piquette – $28,420.00 and the Champion’s Trophy

Runner-up: François Lemyre-Charest – $20,045.00

Last hand of play:

Piquette opened to 80K from the button, which was 3bet to 350K from Roger Lamia from the small blind. JPP decided to go all-in right away with his , at which point Lamia probably thought he was too involved in the pot to fold his , so he went ahead and called. The was no help for Lamia, and he was crippled, left with about 200K.

Two hands later, Roger Lamia raised all-in with his remaining chips, holding the top-of-the-range , and found himself all-in in a heads-up face-off against François Lemyre-Charest, who had been pretty quiet throughout this final table, just increasingly smiling as players were busted out, and taking the occasional pot. François had , and filled up on the flop, to take Roger Lamia out in 3rd place. Here is the full board: .

Congratulations for a good performance!

3rd place: Roger Lamia – $12,670.00

When Roger Lamia opened to 165K from the button with , Marco Caza decided he could run away with that amount, and went all-in with . But it didn’t take very long for Lamia to call his bet.

Caza at risk, they went to the board: . A rollercoaster! Lamia hit a very good flop, only to be sent back behind on the turn, and finally won on the river.

Excellent run Marco!

Marco Caza: 4th place – $7,710.00

With 4 players left and short stacks out of the way, we should now have better quality poker, as the average stack is 32 big blind deep, and no one is in direct danger of being eliminated. Players took a short break after level 24, which gave us a chance to bring you exact counts of the final 4. Play resumes now, and $28,420.00 is up for the winner.

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Jean-Philippe	Piquette	1,890,000
Roger	Lamia	1,080,000
François	Lemyre-Charest	910,000
Marco	Caza	1,040,000

Jean-Philippe Piquette raised the 30K big blind to 60K from the cut-off and Marco Sousa called from the big blind. The was checked by both players. On the turn, Marco checked, and Piquette made it 70K to go, which was called by Sousa. On the river, Marco came out of the bushes and led for 125K. JPP thought for a while, and went all-in. Marco called instantly, visibly confident that his was best, having made 2 pairs on the river. But Piquette had him crushed from the start, lurking in the neighbouring bush with .

Congratulations on a good run, Marco!

Marco Sousa: 5th place – $5,960.00

Andrej Markovinovic had managed to get his 2 big blind stack to about 500K. His last feat caused the elimination of 7th place finisher Srun Kumar Singh, but Marco Caza just put an end to that nice run, when his had the best of Andrej’s . This was a pot of about 1 million, which was built preflop by the two players in raising battle. The board came , and Caza scooped the pot with his pair.

6th place: Andrej Markovinovic – $4,930.00

Arun Kumar Singh lost his stack in 2 acts, the first of which was to the benefit of Andrej Markovinovic, who was nicknamed ”The Cat” by another player, because he simply wouldn’t die. At one point, Andrej had no more than 2 big blinds to his name, which he managed to get to about 200K. That’s when Arun Kumar Singh raised all-in from the cut-off with , to be called all-in under by Andrej, holding . The best hand held, and Arun was crippled.

Shortly after, he found a spot to invest the rest of his chips with , this time running into . The board did not help him, and he had to settle for 7th place.

Nice run!

Arun Kumar Singh: 7th place – $4,140.00

When Roger Lamia open raised to 55K from the button, Pascal, in the small blind, was all too happy to see a hand he could play back with. He made it 160K to go, keeping around 400K behind. Lamia had just a little more, and after some deliberation, he made call, and they went to the flop. .

Monarque was first to act. He backed his preflop aggression with a solid continuation bet, going all-in. Roger called.

Roger Lamia
Pascal Monarque:

Monarque was in trouble, but the on the turn put him back ahead, although adding a flush draw to Lamia’s multiple outs. River: . Lamia completed a straight, eliminating Monarque in the process.

8th place: Pascal Monarque – $3,460.00