Event 4 Champion: Francois Graton-Valiquette

Event 4 of the Playground Poker Fall Classic was a 1-day turbo NL Hold’em event priced at $100 + $10 that attracted a huge 205 player-field, of which 21 secured a payday. With a quick structure, players had to act fast and take chances if they wanted to have a shot at the $4,545 top prize being awarded, as a turbo format generally tends to favour the aggressive player.

Once play reached the final table, it was Francois Graton-Valiquette who was in the driver seat, and the only player above the 1-million chip mark. He slid during the first orbit of play, and saw nearly half of his chips get dispersed to his opponents before he picked up a pair of pocket kings to score a huge double up, putting him back atop the leaderboard. He didn’t spend too much time up there as once again a series of hands saw him drop to table short stack, hitting a low of 160K (around 2 big blinds at the time). As quickly as they vanished, his chips reappeared again after a few successful double-ups, and when play fell 5-handed he was back in charge. This time he managed to maintain his stack, and as players busted he remained the top stack.

In heads-up play versus Michel Gaudette, he began with a 2-to-1 chip lead. A few hands in, Michel limped from the small blind and Francois checked his option. With showing, he checked first to act, and then snapped the all-in of his opponent. Francois tabled for bottom two-pairs, and was in excellent shape versus the high of Michel. The turn and river brought no change to the hand, and with no deals made in this event, Francois earned himself the full amount of the top prize, as well as a Playground Poker Fall Classic Champion’s Trophy, and an entry in the Champion’s Freeroll.