Event 4 was a $250 3-day Event, the first of which was split into 6 starting flights. It featured a $200,000 guarantee, which was easily surpassed by the 1,105 entries that took place over the weekend. One by one, starting flights were sending qualifiers to Monday night’s Day 2, and when all was settled, 225 players were on the list.

Day 2 started in a flash, losing a lot of players rapidly. It only took a few levels for the bubble to burst, and it did with 4 players losing their chips on the same hand. After that, play accelerated even more, until the average stack went up in number of blinds, enough for play to slow down.

After 12 levels of play, 27 players were qualified for tonight’s Day 3. Many recognizable faces were at the tables at the start of Day 3, and some of them made it smoothly to the final table. It was the case for Ruben Perceval, whose stack was managed in a very professional way. He stayed out of trouble for the better part of the evening, picking his spots carefully, collecting some hanging chips, but left in 6th place after finding himself on the sour end of a cooler.

Amirpasha Emami impressed us with his seemingly experienced play, but it was later found that the $250 Frenzy was his 2nd live tournament ever. He learned the game 2 years ago, and proved tonight that he belongs. He left in 7th, just before Ruben, and we hope to see him again at the Playground Poker Club tables.

Annuztia D left in 5th. She held on as long as she could, but ended up busting with an Ace against a better kicker. She was the first to earn a 5-figure prize, and the last women standing.

Play continued 4-way for a little over an hour and a half, and chips changed hands a lot during that time. Malik Lefty drew the shortest draw, and finished 4th. He was followed by Mounzer Awada, who had managed to put himself in the lead for a short while, but finally fell under Walter Asatoorian’s attack.

Walter went from a massive advantage to last and at risk during 3-handed play, but climbed back up. When he took down Awada, it was a David vs Goliath heads-up match, where Anthony Payette had about 12 big blinds in front of him, while Walter’s stack was so large that it made it hard for him to look at his cards. It wasn’t long before the final hand happened.

Walter made it 1.1M to go. Anthony made the all-in announcement, which was quickly met by a call. Anthony playfully laughed when Walter showed his , saying that it was his 6th ace-king in the last hour – which was not that far from the truth. His own was no match, and so was concluded the $250 Frenzy (full final hand below).

Congratulations to both finalists!

Our $250 Frenzy Champion: Walter Asatoorian – $45,000 and the Champion’s Trophy

Runner-up: Anthony Payette – $29,766

Last hand of play:

When Walter Asatoorian raised to 900K from the small blind, Mounzer Awada went all-in for 5M chips. Asatoorian did not take more than a second to make the call.

Walter Asatoorian:
Mounzer Awada:

The board did not help Awada, and Walter knocked him out in 3rd place, extending his lead to a crushing advantage in the process. Play resumes with 4M in front of Anthony Payette, and 18M in front of Walter.

Mounzer awada goes home with a very cool $22,000. Not a bad payday! Well done!

Walter Asatoorian put himself back on top, with about 13 million in his stack. In one of the hands that he won, he took 600K on the turn and 1.3M on the river from Mounzer Awada, and took down a sizable pot with on a board.

A few similar pots were pushed his way, and good timing got him back ahead with about 3 times as many chips as his opponents, and more than half the chips in play.

After one and a half hours of 4-handed play, it was Malik Lefty who was sent to the rail. Play had opened up a little bit a few rounds ago, and Malik had called a few raises, but failed to hit a flop or take a stand. As a result, his stack had dwindled down considerably and he ended up going all-in from the button with , a very legitimate hand for his 1.3M stack, or 5 big blinds.

Anthony Payette called him instantly with , and held on the board. Mounzer Awada now has about 9.5M, followed by Payette with about 7.5M, and Asatoorian, once with a crushing lead, is third in chips with about 5M.

Malik Lefty cashes $16,840 for his great run. Excellent performance!

As many limping calls are being placed pre-flop, and post-flop play consists mostly of checks and small bets, chips are being passed clockwise. Payette and Asatoorian’s stacks went up by about a million each, and Awada and Lefty’s stacks went down by about a million each. Malik Lefty is our current short stack, with about 2.5M to his name.

Play will move to a new blind in a little over 5 minutes.

Our 4 finalists are taking a short break as the tournament director races the T5K chips off the table. Malik Lefty, Mounzer Awada and Anthony Payette have all managed to gain, especially Mounzer Awada, and Walter Asatoorian’s stack has been noticeably chipped away.

Here are the updated counts:

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Seat | Siège	Stack | Tapis
Walter	Asatoorian	Table 40 - Seat 4	7,665,000
Malik	Lefty	Table 40 - Seat 5	4,245,000
Mounzer	Awada	Table 40 - Seat 7	6,615,000
Anthony	Payette	Table 40 - Seat 10	3,555,000