There were 149 players in the $200 + $20 NL Hold’em Freeze in the TonyBet Power Weekend, and it took about 10 hours to play down to a champion. It didn’t take long for several players to grow “industrial-sized” stacks – there were players with 3 times the average before the first break of the night. Eliminations came at a constant pace throughout the night, and then as the money bubble and the final table approached, deals were made to keep up the steady pace of the tourney.

The first agreement reached was to offer a bubble save prize of $220. $100 was taken from the 1st place prize money and $80 and $40 from 2nd and 3rd respectively. Then, with 5 players remaining the players agreed to an event chop of $4,000 each, reserving $1,286 for the eventual winner. Two players were eliminated in the following hand, and once the 3rd place player was eliminated.

When heads-up play began, Jacques Blais had a huge 2.3M to 770K advantage, but after just a few hands the players were even. A further deal was made to keep $400 each of the remaining $1,286, leaving an additional $486 for the champion – which ended up being Jacques Blais!

Champion: Jacques Blais, $4,886

2nd place: Carlo Nini, $4,400

Final hand of the tournament:

During the recent break, the 5 remaining players agreed to each take $4,000, leaving an additional $1,286 for the eventual champion. Immediately after the deal was struck, there was a 3-way all-in and Jacques Blais eliminated 2 players in the hand.

Jacques Blais:

Michael Korovine:

Chris Arvanitis:

Board:

Jacques made his Ace-high flush in spades on the turn and that was the end of the night for Chris and Michael.

Later, Bob T was eliminated in 3rd place and the tournament was heads up between Jacques and Carlo Nini.

3rd place: Bob T, $4,000

4th place: Michael Korovine, $4,000

5th place: Chris Arvanitis, $4,000

6th place: Maxime Laberge, $1,650

 

Maxime Laberge:

Michael Korovine:

Community cards:

7th place: Carl Larose, $1,250

Carl Larose:

Chris Arvanitis:

Chris won with a runner-runner 8-high flush!

 

8th place: Anastasios Klados, $950

Anastasios Klados:

Carlo Nini:

Tableau:

9e place: Duc Nguyen Dinh, $700

Duc Nguyen Dinh:

Maxime Laberge:

Tableau:

 

 

Level 14 is drawing to a close and there are 3 tables remaining with the bubble approaching. 15 players will be in the money in the tournament.

Photos from level 14

There are under 100 players remaining, just minutes before the 2nd break in the tournament. Tournament staff are now removing the T25 chips from play, during which time we’ll work on getting a good assessment of the chip leaders.

Photos taken during level 8