Event 1 – Strike Out Cancer – Charity Event ($135 + $25 NL Hold’em Re-entry)

The Strike Out Cancer Charity Event Champion: Mark Wells

2015/08/25 - 2:17 by Playground Poker

After 3 long days of poker, Mark Wells managed to turn a 20,000 stack into 24 million, in the mean time turning his $135 (+ $25 charity contribution) investment into a sweet $24,440 cash prize!

Heads-up play with opponent Cherif Mohand was fairly brief, as fatigue seemed to have reduced Cherif’s level of patience. He began playing very aggressively, and it seemed to work at first, until he got caught in a hand that lead to his elimination. Cherif opened preflop to 700,000, and then raised all-in on the flop for nearly 10,000,000 after Mark lead out for 900,000. Mark made the call with bottom pair, and his held versus Cherif’s , as the running cards were .

With that pot, Mark emerged as the champion of Event 1 – Strike Out Cancer Charity Event, and awarded him a stunning Montréal Poker Expo Champions Trophy along with his cash prize.

Congratulations!

Strike Out Cancer Charity Event Champion: Mark Thomas Wells – $24,440

Event 1 Runner-Up: Cherif Si Hadj Mohand – $16,840

Cherif Si Hadj Mohand

Last Hand of Play

3rd place: Fazeel Munawar

Level: 35

Small Blind: 150K

Big Blind: 300K

Ante: 50K

Chip Average: 11.9M

Remaining: 2

Entries: 1186

2015/08/25 - 1:39 by Playground Poker

Mark Thomas Wells has chipped up considerably since the break, and used this momentum to bing this tournament down to heads-up.

He 3bet shoved facing an open to 600,000 from Fazeel, and found a call.

Mark:
Fazeel:

Mark flopped a full house on the board, sending Fazeel on a walk to the cashier.

Heads-up play is underway! Mark and his ~18 million are leading the way over Cherif and his ~6 million.

3rd place: Fazeel Munawar – $18,332

Fazeel Munawar

Chip counts entering level 35

Level: 35

Small Blind: 150K

Big Blind: 300K

Ante: 25K

Chip Average: 7.9M

Remaining: 3

Entries: 1186

2015/08/25 - 1:15 by Playground Poker

Here is the chip distribution of the final three players, as they enter level 35:

First Name	Last Name	Seat	Chip Count
Mark Thomas	Wells	Seat 1	8,850,000
Fazeel	Munawar	Seat 2	7,775,000
Cherif	Si Hadj Mohand	Seat 7	6,975,000

Still 3-handed

Level: 34

Small Blind: 125K

Big Blind: 250K

Ante: 25K

Chip Average: 7.9M

Remaining: 3

Entries: 1189

2015/08/25 - 0:57 by Playground Poker

We are still 3-handed in Event 1, and we’ve seen the balance of chips shift several times. Mark Wells began as the chip leader, at one point rising to nearly 15-million in chips, however he lost a few big pots and found himself drop to the bottom of the leaderboard a few orbits ago.

Fazeek Munawar recently took over the chip lead, as he double-up through Mark up to 13-million, however gave it right back a few hands later. Cherif Mohand has also been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride, and he’s seen his stack fluctuate between 2 and 8 million.

At the moment, all three players are basically even, sitting on roughly 8 million each!

: Mark Thomas Wells

: Fazeel Munawar

: Cherif Si Hadj Mohand

4th place: Danny Rouleau

Level: 32

Small Blind: 75K

Big Blind: 150K

Ante: 25K

Chip Average: 7.9M

Remaining: 3

Entries: 1186

2015/08/24 - 23:35 by Playground Poker

Moments after a deal was made 4-way, the short stack Danny Rouleau found himself all-in versus Cherif Mohand on a flop of .

Danny:
Cherif:

Danny failed to improve on the running cards ( ), bringing us down to 3-handed poker in Event 1.

4th place: Danny Rouleau – $13,655

Danny Rouleau

A deal has been reached

Level: 32

Small Blind: 75K

Big Blind: 150K

Ante: 25K

Chip Average: 5.7M

Remaining: 4

Entries: 1186

2015/08/24 - 23:33 by

With 4 players remaining, Mark Thomas Wells broached the issue of a deal and the clock was paused so that the matter could be discussed. After a couple of failed starts, the players agreed to look at numbers for an ICM chop – all the while reserving the required $3,000 and the trophy for the eventual winner.

Once accurate counts were determined and corresponding dollar values attributed to each stack, it didn’t take long for the players to reach agreement.

The players decided to each take the following:

Mark Thomas Wells, $21,440
Fazeel Munawar, $18,332
Danny Rouleau, $13,655
Cherif Si Hadj Mohand, $16,840

And play continues 4-handed.

5th place: George Kazarian

Level: 32

Small Blind: 75K

Big Blind: 150K

Ante: 25K

Chip Average: 5.9M

Remaining: 4

Entries: 1186

2015/08/24 - 23:17 by Playground Poker

When action folded around to him in the small blind, George Kazarian wagered his remaining ~2,400,000, and was called by Mark Thomas Wells in the big blind.

George:
Mark:

George needed to improve his hand if he wanted to stay on this final table, however the board brought him no help, ending his run in 5th place.

5th place: George Kazarian – $8,070

George Kazarian

6th place: Ian Armorer

Level: 32

Small Blind: 75K

Big Blind: 150K

Ante: 25K

Chip Average: 4.7M

Remaining: 5

Entries: 1186

2015/08/24 - 23:12 by Playground Poker

Ian Armorer pulled the trigger from under the gun, moving in his 1,800,000 stack. Fazeel Munawar made a quick call, and the others got out of the way.

Ian:
Fazeel:

The flop was interesting for Ian, however the running cards were of no help to him, as the board showed .

6th place: Ian Armorer – $6,240

Ian Armorer

Full counts – 6 players remaining

Level: 32

Small Blind: 75K

Big Blind: 150K

Ante: 25K

Chip Average: 4M

Remaining: 6

Entries: 1186

2015/08/24 - 23:05 by

Going into level 32 there was a break as the blue T5,000 chips were removed from play. With just 6 players remaining, the action is still relatively fast-moving. Cherif still has the chip lead, but his advantage isn’t nearly what it was as both Mark and Fazeel have almost caught up to him. George, meanwhile, had been on life support for at least 2 orbits but managed to build his stack back up to respectability and continues to play.

First Name	Last Name	Seat	Chip Count
Mark Thomas	Wells	Seat 1	5,125,000
Fazeel	Munawar	Seat 2	5,200,000
Danny	Rouleau	Seat 3	2,775,000
Cherif	Si Hadj Mohand	Seat 7	5,625,000
George	Kazarian	Seat 8	2,450,000
Ian	Armorer	Seat 10	2,375,000

7th place: Hezkiel Menache

Level: 31

Small Blind: 60K

Big Blind: 120K

Ante: 20K

Chip Average: 4M

Remaining: 6

Entries: 1186

2015/08/24 - 22:44 by

Hezkiel Menache spent much of yesterday among the chip leaders and started today with a healthy stack, but when play resumed on Day 3 he lost a couple of early pots and was among the short stacks for much of the action today.

Finally he went all-in holding , only to be instantly called off by Cherif, immediately to his left, holding .