In a clash of the two big stack, Alain Corriveau got the best of Joel Thibeault to win a massive pot. We caught up to the action on the turn, where the money went in from both parties on a board showing .

Joel:

Alain:

Once the cards were turned over, Joel realized he was drawing dead, as the hit the river. With that hand, Alain took a commanding lead on this final table.

4th place: Joel Thibeault, $710

Patrick David Hu-A-Kam was sitting on almost exactly 10 big blinds when he open-shipped his 201K stack into the middle from under the gun. Joel Thibeault came over the top next to act, and they were heads-up to the flop.

Patrick:

Joel:

The board was clean for the pair of aces, showing , and Patrick was eliminated in 5th place, good for $560.

5th place: Patrick David Hu-A-Kam, $560

Ivan Dimitrov was on a roller coaster ride here on the final table of Event 8, as we saw his stack go from below 3 big blinds up to nearly 5 times that amount, before again falling to a short stack. On his last hand, he moved all-in from middle position holding , but ran into Alain Corriveau’s , who was in the big blind.

We saw Ivan crack Jason Kantarjian’s pair of aces earlier on this final table, and although he picked up some equity on the turn, he inevitably fell short on the board to finish in 6th place.

6th place: Ivan Dimitrov, $440

Joel Thibeault made a move that ended up paying off. Falling on the shorter side of the leaderboard, he moved in from middle position, and got the call from shorter stack Jonathan Bardier in the big blind.

Joel:

Jonathan:

The flop hit both of them, showing , but the turn sealed the win for Joel. The river was a , and Jonathan was eliminated in 7th.

7th place: Jonathan Bardier, $340

Michel Leveille found himself all-in preflop versus William Blais, and needed to hit to double up his stack.

Michel:

William:

Board:

8th place: Michel Leveille, $270

The 8 remaining players are on a short break, during which we did some chip counts. Here is the chip distribution:

Final Table

• Seat 1. William Blais – 151,000
• Seat 2. Alain Corriveau – 536,000
• Seat 3.  Patrick David Hu-A-Kam – 122,000
• Seat 4. Joel Thibeault – 58,000
• Seat 5. John Tamai – eliminated in 9th – $210
• Seat 6. Ivan Dimitrov – 173,000
• Seat 7. Jason Kantarjian – eliminated in 10th – $160
• Seat 8. Michel Leveille – 138,000
• Seat 9. Traci Horpestad – 36,000
• Seat 10. Jonathan Bardier – 146,000

John Tamai was nursing a short stack when he finally got his last chips into the middle, however he would need some help if he wanted to survive the hand versus Alain Corriveau.

John:

Alain:

The board brought no such help to John, showing , and he was sent to the cashiers to collect his prize.

9th place: John Tamai, $210

Jason Kantarjian was just elimiated in a brutal fashion here on the final table, as his fell victim to Ivan Dimitrov’s on a board.

10th place: Jason Kantarjian, $160

Only 10 players remain of the 92 who began the day in this 8th Event of the Playground Poker Montreal Festival, and this means we have now reached our final table! Here are the ten finalists, all with their eye on that $1,507 first prize, which is accompanied by a Playground Poker Montreal Festival bracelet:

Final Table

• Seat 1. William Blais
• Seat 2. Alain Corriveau
• Seat 3.  Patrick David Hu-A-Kam
• Seat 4. Joel Thibeault
• Seat 5. John Tamai
• Seat 6. Ivan Dimitrov
• Seat 7. Jason Kantarjian
• Seat 8. Michel Leveille
• Seat 9. Traci Horpestad
• Seat 10. Jonathan Bardier

Good luck!

Traci Horpestad

Patrick David Hu-A-Kam

Jason Kantarjian

Joel Thibeault

John Tamai

Michel Leveille

Jonathan Bardier

Alain Corriveau

William Blais

Ivan Dimitrov