Those were the words expressed by Martin Gelinas, as he eliminated Raphael Clayette on the bubble after numerous long hands of hand-for-hand.
Raphael moved in for 63,000 from the button in an unopened pot, and Martin committed the extra 39,000 from the big blind.
Martin: 
Raphael: 
Board: 
Martin’s pair of tens was enough to bring this event into the money, which should loosen play up a little as many players were crippled by the blinds leading up to the bubble.
While the players were on a short break, we did our rounds and counted all the stacks still in play. Here is the current chip distribution, as play enters level 19:
| Name | Seat | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Leger | Table 37 - Seat 6 | 503,000 |
| Israel Pantaleon | Table 37 - Seat 10 | 462,000 |
| Laurena Matechuk | Table 44 - Seat 4 | 447,000 |
| Jeffrey Herman | Table 37 - Seat 7 | 311,000 |
| Sivachidambaram Chinnasamy | Table 44 - Seat 1 | 284,000 |
| Steve Daraiche | Table 37 - Seat 5 | 272,000 |
| James Cooke | Table 37 - Seat 3 | 272,000 |
| Jen-Yue Chiang | Table 44 - Seat 8 | 249,000 |
| Sandy Lam | Table 37 - Seat 2 | 245,000 |
| Richard Thomas Jones | Table 37 - Seat 4 | 204,000 |
| Martin Gelinas | Table 44 - Seat 5 | 201,000 |
| Dylan Miller | Table 44 - Seat 10 | 121,000 |
| Marc-Andre Gariepy | Table 44 - Seat 9 | 98,000 |
| Raphael Clayette | Table 44 - Seat 3 | 96,000 |
| Kosta Papa | Table 44 - Seat 2 | 82,000 |
| James Nortcliff | Table 37 - Seat 8 | 79,000 |
| Michelle Noseworthy | Table 44 - Seat 7 | 29,000 |
| Yannick Cyr | Table 37 - Seat 9 | 14,000 |
As play nears the money, we just saw a huge pot develop between former chip leader Yannick Cyr, who recently dropped the rankings, and Israel Pantaleon.
Richard Leger was the initial raiser in the hand, as he opened to 27,500 from early position. Yannick Cyr then moved in his roughly 300,000 in the middle, and was called by Israel Pantaleon, who was just barely covered with his 279,500 stack. Richard regrettably folded his hand, leaving the two heads-up.
Yannick: 
Israel: 
Board: 
Yannick was left with only 2 big blinds after the hand.
We are starting to get close to the money bubble in Event 10, as the field has been shrunk to just two tables. The top 14 will receive a cash prize, but all the players have that sweet top prize of $4,135 cash in mind, which of course is accompanied by a beautiful Montréal Poker Expo Champions Trophy!
Here is a look at the final two tables:
| Name | Seat |
|---|---|
| Martin Gelinas | Table 37 - Seat 1 |
| Sandy Lam | Table 37 - Seat 2 |
| James Cooke | Table 37 - Seat 3 |
| Richard Thomas Jones | Table 37 - Seat 4 |
| Steve Daraiche | Table 37 - Seat 5 |
| Richard Leger | Table 37 - Seat 6 |
| Jeffrey Herman | Table 37 - Seat 7 |
| James Nortcliff | Table 37 - Seat 8 |
| Yannick Cyr | Table 37 - Seat 9 |
| Israel Pantaleon | Table 37 - Seat 10 |
| Sivachidambaram Chinnasamy | Table 44 - Seat 1 |
| Kosta Papa | Table 44 - Seat 2 |
| Raphael Clayette | Table 44 - Seat 3 |
| Laurena Matechuk | Table 44 - Seat 4 |
| Marc Andre Brault | Table 44 - Seat 5 |
| Mark Ramos | Table 44 - Seat 6 |
| Michelle Noseworthy | Table 44 - Seat 7 |
| Jen-Yue Chiang | Table 44 - Seat 8 |
| Marc-Andre Gariepy | Table 44 - Seat 9 |
| Dylan Miller | Table 44 - Seat 10 |
We have been reduced down to the final three tables here in Event 10 in the Montréal Poker Expo, and Yannick Cyr is miles ahead of the field, holding a stack upwards of 3 times the average. Here is a look at the top stacks heading into level 15.
| Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| Yannick Cyr | 449,000 |
| Laurena Matechuk | 304,000 |
| Steve Daraiche | 287,500 |
| Sivachidambaram Chinnasamy | 255,000 |
| Israel Pantaleon | 253,000 |
| Richard Leger | 194,000 |
| Martin Gelinas | 191,000 |
The tournament has reached level 14, and for now Yannick Cyr seems to have the stranglehold lead, as his almost 400,000 stack dwarfs any other player’s stack, except maybe Steve Daraiche, who is nearing the 300,000 mark. There will be a break following this level, and we will bring an update on the leaderboard.
Photographs from levels 11, 12 and 13:
Here are the current chip leaders of Event 10, as play enters level 9.
| Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|
| David Valcourt-Dube | 174,000 |
| Laurena Matechuk | 172,000 |
| Jeffrey Lem | 141,000 |
| Steve Daraiche | 114,000 |
| Steven James Dunn | 114,000 |
| Michael Selliah | 111,000 |
| Michael Skinner | 107,000 |
Event 10 in the Montréal Poker Expo is a $135 + $15 NL Hold’em ‘3 Lives’ tournament that began at 8:00pm on August 30th. There were 132 players in the tournament, which brought the prize pool up to $17,285. The prizes will be distributed according to the following table.
| Pos | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $4,135.00 |
| 2 | $3,100.00 |
| 3 | $2,370.00 |
| 4 | $1,800.00 |
| 5 | $1,370.00 |
| 6 | $1,040.00 |
| 7 | $780.00 |
| 8 | $600.00 |
| 9 | $450.00 |
| 10 | $360.00 |
| 11 | $360.00 |
| 12 | $320.00 |
| 13 | $320.00 |
| 14 | $280.00 |
With the registration period now closed, we saw a total of 132 players turn up for Event 10 in the Montréal Poker Expo. Since this is a 1-day event, play will continue until we have a champion, who will earn himself a Montréal Poker Expo Champion’s Trophy, as well as a sweet cash prize (which is being tabulated by the tournament directors as we speak – stay tuned!).
The ‘3 Lives’ No Limit Hold’em Event is now underway, and this is the 10th event of the Montreal Poker Expo. Registration has almost climbed up to over 100, with still another hour or so left before it closes.
Photographs from levels 1 and 2:
