Here are the exact chip counts of the remaining 6 players, during the break between levels 29 and 30:

[eztable width=80% colwidth=27%|33%|20% colalign=center|center|center]
Table – Seat,Name,Chip Count [attr sort=desc]
Table 38 – Seat 3,Rodney Ramalho,”2,070,000″
Table 38 – Seat 5,Norman Doucette,”2,845,000″
Table 38 – Seat 6,Hugo Fontaine,”2,320,000″
Table 38 – Seat 7,Nicolas Bastien,”3,205,000″
Table 38 – Seat 8,Sergio Vigano,”3,020,000″
Table 38 – Seat 9,Daniel Charette,”1,360,000″
[/eztable]

Rodney Ramalho opened by raising his button to 160,000. It folded to Hugo Fontaine in the big blind, who moved in for 775,000. After a moment in the tank, Rodney slid forward some chip, announcing a call.

Rodney:

Hugo:

Board:

Pocket 3s seems to be Hugo’s hand in this tournament, as he was launched into the chip lead at the end of Day 2 by again flopping a set of 3s!

When action folded around to Rodney Ramalho in the small blind, he decided to apply some pressure by moving in on the short stack Levi Stevens in the big blind, who was sitting on 8 big blinds. Levi made the call however, and found he needed help to survive.

Rodney:

Levi:

Both players made two-pair on the board, however Rodney and his kings-up was the better hand. Rodney moved up to around 3,500,000, while Levi made his way to the cashier.

7th place: Levi Stevens – $16,290

Levi Stevens

We peeked over the shoulders of the players to do a rough count of their chips, and here is what we came out with:

[eztable width=80% colwidth=27%|33%|20% colalign=center|center|center]
Table – Seat,Name,Chip Count [attr sort=desc]
Table 38 – Seat 3,Rodney Ramalho,”1,700,000″
Table 38 – Seat 4,Levi Stevens,”670,000″
Table 38 – Seat 5,Norman Doucette,”2,700,000″
Table 38 – Seat 6,Hugo Fontaine,”950,000″
Table 38 – Seat 7,Nicolas Bastien,”3,400,000″
Table 38 – Seat 8,Sergio Vigano,”3,000,000″
Table 38 – Seat 9,Daniel Charette,”2,100,000″
[/eztable]

Players Club Member Jason Duval, who is a WSOP-bracelet winner and successful local pro, just lost two big pots to bust in 8th place on this final table of the Main Event. Incidentally, he lost both hands while holding a pair of Kings, and both times fell to QJ.

In this last hand, Norman Doucette opened to 155,000 from middle position, and tank-called 930,000 more after Jason Duval moved all-in from the big blind. Jason flipped over , but was outdrawn by the of Norman on a board.

That pot launched Norman just above the 3-million chip mark.

8th place: Jason Duval – $12,990

Jason Duval

Rodney Ramalho was on the short end of the leaderboard when he moved in for 725,000 from UTG. It folded around to Jason Duval in the big blind, who woke up with a monster.

Rodney:

Jason:

Rodney ended making the nuts by running a straight on the board to double himself up back to a healthy stack. Jason fell to just below a million with that hand.

Daniel Hamelin opened the action to 100,000 from UTG+1, and found a 3bet to 250,000 from Norman Doucette in the cutoff. He replied with an all-in, which was quickly called.

Daniel:

Norman:

The kings held on the board, crippling Daniel to 375,000. He won the pot two hands later to increase his stack by a few blinds, however found himself all-in again from the small blind, as he 3bet his 455,000 stack after Sergio Vigano opened from the cutoff.

Daniel:

Sergio:

Unfortunately for Daniel, he was rivered on the board to end his run in 9th place.

9th place: Daniel Hamelin – $9,740

Daniel Hamelin

It didn’t take long for us to have our first casualty on the final table, as Quyen Dao lost his stack in a two-part process. In the first hand, Quyen open-shoved just over 600,000 from middle position, and was called by Levi Stevens in the big blind, who only had 535,000.

Quyen:

Levi:

The flop was awful for Quyen, as the board cut his hopes. Levi won the hand by making a straight flush, as the hit the river (the turn was a meaningless ).

Two hands later, Quyen was all-in with his remaining 140,000, and once again in a tough spot, as his was called by the of Rodney Ramalho. Much like the previous hand, the board was of no help to Quyen, showing , and just like that his Main Event was over.

10th place: Quyen Dao – $7,120

Quyen Dao

Shawn Martel was just shy of 10 big blinds when he moved in his last 375,000 from the button, after Nicolas Basile had opened to 90,000 from UTG, and found himself in a race.

Shawn:

Nicolas:

With the window card showing a 9, Shawn had little to no hope of surviving, as the dealer spun out the board of . With that elimination, we are now at the final table of the Main Event of the Playground Winter Festival!

11th place: Shawn Martell – $7,120

Shawn Martell