Tonight was held Event #15 of the Playground Poker Fall Classic, a $300 + $30 NL Hold’em Freeze tournament with a $20,000 guarantee.

It started in a buzzing room full of cameras and reporters, as Day 4 of the WPT Montreal and the final table of the Second Chance Event were unfolding simultaneously. After a few hours though, our players had the whole room to themselves, and they played until the wee hours of the morning to crown another PPFC Champion.

134 players took part, including some of our staff members, some of which ran deep in the Event. Nazareth Maghakian, an assistant manager at the club, was the longest-lasting chip leader. He played a solid game, and ended up in 5th place.

Karim-Olivier Kamal, a regular final tableist in Playground Events, also did a great job, and it looked like he was going to get to the duel, but a rough river hurt him badly, and he later had to settle for 4th place.

When Armah Attoh was eliminated in 3rd place, Julie Payette, a Playground dealer, was facing Pawan Braich, who was the star of the final table. He was more than solid throughout the in-the-money portion of the Event, and as soon as he got a comfortable lead, there was no stopping him. He put his opponents to the test on every single occasion, and was a monster in front of Julie.

She knew that she could only push back and get lucky once or twice before she could actually start playing heads-up poker against Pawan, but she came in second on her first try (full hand pictured below).

Her participation in the heads-up match got her $7,084, while Pawan’s win was worth $9,300.

Congratulations!

The $330 Freeze Champion: Pawan Braich – $9,300.00

Runner-up: Julie Payette – $7,084.00

Last hand of play:

Julie managed to double her 260K against Pawan. Julie had and Pawan , and it looked like it was going to be a chop, but a 4 appeared on the river and Julie doubled.

It was then a race between her and Armah. Who was going to survive. Pawan was raising every single hand, as the chip distribution and the next pay jump required, until he did so from the small blind and Armah called with an ace.

Pawan:
Armah:

Board:

Armah Attoh takes $5,360 for his amazing run. Great job!

On the first hand after the break, Naz put it in from the under-the-gun position with . He found a call from Pawan Braich, who held on the big blind.

Board:

Naz gets a $3,080 voucher for his 5th place.

2 hands later, Karim-Olivier Kamal was taken out, by Pawan again, who collects final table kills.

Karim:
Pawan:

Board:

Karim goes home with a $4,065 prize for his 4th place.

Great job guys! Armah Attoh and Pawan Braich were then all-in together, but Julie did not get what she was looking for. Both players had ace-king.

Nazareth’s stack dwindled down after a cold patch of hands. Karim took a hit when Armah doubled up on him after hitting a gutshot on the river against Karim’s queens. A queen filled his broadway straight. Pawan chipped up after a few knockouts.

Here are the updated stacks:

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Seat | Siège	Stack | Tapis
Nazareth	Maghakian	Table 54 - Seat 1	255,000
Keith	Laflam	Table 54 - Seat 4	890,000
Karim-Olivier	Kamal	Table 54 - Seat 7	360,000
Julie	Payette	Table 54 - Seat 9	295,000
Pawan	Braich	Table 54 - Seat 10	875,000

Jean-Marc Couillard waited a long time, and finally got what he was looking for. He went in with pocket tens from the button with his last 95K. Pawan Raich, now the overwhelming chip leader, called with and pulled the huge upset!

Jean-Marc finishes 6th and wins $2,335. Well done! Players looked at some ICM numbers after his departure, but Pawan wanted more, and play resumed quickly with no deal.

Julie Payette had been very quiet for a while, not getting any love from the deck. She was down to her last 198K, and threw them in with . When Keith Laflam announced all-in 1 second after looking at his cards, Julie knew that she needed help. Keith tables .

Board:

Keith was covered by 11K, and walked in 7th place, for $1,770. Bad luck, but nice run!