Event #5 of the July Power Weekend, the $100 + $20 + $100 50/50 Bounty, drew an impressive turnout of 214 players. Showing the consistent popularity of Power Weekend bounty tournaments, this event generated a prize pool that far exceeded the $20,000 guarantee.
The early levels were predictably wild, with lots of multi-way all ins and plenty of huge pots. There were nearly 200 entries when the first break arrived and a rush of players to the cashier brought the total number to 214 before play resumed. 40 players were eliminated prior to the first break, and the action continued at a frantic pace right through to the second break of the evening.
David Ho jumped out to an early lead, but he ran out of steam around the time of the second break. From there Andre Piunno rose to the top of the leader board with Yan Gohier right behind him. Piunno and Gohier managed to maintain the largest stacks in the field all the way to the final table. The only lull in the action this evening was the hand-for-hand play on the money bubble, but it was brief by comparative standards, and the action quickly got back up to speed.
When the final table was down to its last four players, Jean-Francois M, Georges Rombotis, Yan Gohier and Elie B, they negotiated a deal that divided the prize pool and took the bounty chips out of play. Jean-Francois and Yan each received $2,500, while Elie and Georges took $3,100, leaving an extra $406 for the winner.
Jean-Francois M built a big stack in the middle stages of the tournament and then went on a roller coaster in the late stages. He went from playing a stack that was well above average to being all in with only a handful of blinds when the field was down to two tables. After losing a huge pot, Jean-Francois was, in his words, “on tilt” and moved all in blind out of turn. After being cautioned by the dealer, he waited his turn and moved all in blind nonetheless. He managed to make a full house with 
in what was the start of an epic comeback. From there, he won pot after pot and made his way to the final table with an above-average stack. After the players chopped the prize pool at the final table, Jean-Francois eliminated each of them in turn to complete a remarkable comeback to claim victory. Congratulations!
Event #5 Champion: Jean-Francois M, $2,906
Last hand of play:
ran into Elie B’s pocket kings. The board offered no help for Marzan’s hand, and he hit the rail in fifth place, taking home $970 in the process.
against Rombotis’ 
. The board, 
:jh, let ace high stand, sending Piunno to the rail in fifth, earning him $970 in the process.
into 
in a pre-flop all in. Belanger collected $420 for his tenth place finish.
flop, and Arzouhaljian moved all in to force Aaron Shepard out of the way before Gohier triumphantly called with top set. Arzouhaljian was drawing very thin, holding 
, and the 