Jean-Francois came to Day 3 as the chip leader, and although his stack fluctuated throughout the night, at times falling well below the average stack, he managed to close the deal and win the opening event of this year’s Playground Winter Festival!
It took 31 hands of heads-up versus his opponent Francis Dery, and they started the battle fairly even in stacks. On the 6th hand, Jean-Francois took a chunk out of Francis, as he 4bet shoved on the flop versus a 6-million chip 3bet to get a fold out of Francis. After that, Francis was playing catchup, but never managed to rebuild his stack.
In the last hand, Francis limped from the small blind, and the two players went to see a flop. With the board showing 
, Jean-Francois check-raised all-in and found a snap call. He tabled 
, and needed some help to overcome Francis’s 
. The 
on the turn changed nothing, however the 
on the river gave Jean-Francois a straight, awarding him the pot, and the first place prize!
Congratulations!
Event 1 Champion: Jean-Francois Marin – $20,709
Last Hand of Play:
2nd place: Francis Dery – $17,000
Francis Dery
, and was racing against the 
of Jean-Francois. It was all but over on the flop though, as Jean-Francois flopped a set on the 
board to bring this event down to heads-up.
.
gave no help to François and he is eliminated.
, Brian was crippled to just 25,000 in chips, or one ante. He was eliminated on the next hand, taking home $10,000 for his run.
