Playground Poker Spring Classic 2015

Event 5 Champion: Francois Goulet

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Event 5 Champion Francois Goulet

Francois Goulet had a quiet tournament all the way until the final table, and then he – and his chip stack – exploded! By the time the event was 8-way, he had around 25% of the chips in play, and when it was down to 6, he started at approximately 40% of the chips in the event.

With such a dominant stack size facing them, none of the other players were able to manage to equalize – or even to take a big piece from Francois. And so once there were just 4 players remaining, the tournament moved very quickly to its conclusion.

In the final hand of the tourney, John Paul Tabago (who was playing 582K) raised to 60K and Francois 3-bet shoved. John Paul made the call.

Francois: 2 of Hearts 2 of Clubs
John Paul: Ace of Diamonds 7 of Hearts

The community cards came out almost perfectly for Francois: 10 of Diamonds Jack of Clubs Queen of Clubs Queen of Spades 5 of Spades. Francois’ deuces weren’t counterfeit and he had faded all of the Aces and 7s to take the bracelet and the $15,000 top prize.

Event 5 Champion: Francois Goulet, $15,000

2nd place: John Paul Tabago, $11,000

John Paul Tabago

John Paul Tabago

The final hand of play in Event 5

PPSC-E5-4329

Heads up in Event 5

  • Level: 23
  • Small Blind: 12K
  • Big Blind: 24K
  • Ante: 4K
  • Chip Average: 1.2M
  • Remaining: 2
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    There are just two players remaining in Event 5: John Paul Tabago and Francois Goulet. Francois has a dominant chip stack, holding a 4-1 advantage to start the heads up portion of the event.

    Lafleur out in 4th, Benoit out in 3rd

  • Level: 23
  • Small Blind: 12K
  • Big Blind: 24K
  • Ante: 4K
  • Chip Average: 1.2M
  • Remaining: 2
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    There are just two players remaining in Event 5 as Sammy Lafleur was eliminated in 4th place and just a few hands later Charles-Eric Benoit was eliminated in 3rd. It has been challenging for all of the players in the past couple of levels because Francois Goulet simply has a dominant chip lead – he has had over 40% of the chips in play since at least 6 players were left.

    Two more down

  • Level: 22
  • Small Blind: 10K
  • Big Blind: 20K
  • Ante: 3K
  • Chip Average: 620K
  • Remaining: 4
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    John Power (6th) and Gregory Katayama (5th) have been eliminated in Event 5, and there are just 4 players remaining in the event.

    John had a very healthy stack for long periods today, and for some time was among the leaders, but when he reached the final table he soon lost half of his stack to Francois Goulet, and from then on was running on fumes. Gregory has been among the middle stacks for almost the entire tournament, but he too ended up short-stacked and shipped all of this chips to Francois.

    There is a theme here, and it has been in force for some time – Francois Goulet gets all the chips. He is currently working with over half of the chips in play, and hasn’t made a single misstep.

    Yamani out 7th

  • Level: 21
  • Small Blind: 8K
  • Big Blind: 16K
  • Ante: 2K
  • Chip Average: 413.3K
  • Remaining: 6
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    Isham Yamani has been eliminated in 7th place. Isham had been very short as recently as the bubble – at one point he was down to 55K in chips – but he laddered up very well and managed not only to survive the bubble but make a few pay jumps as well. This is the second final table so far in the 2015 Playground Poker Spring Classic – he placed 3rd in The Wild $150.

    7th place: Isham Yamani, $2,740

    Event 5-4598

    Event 5 stacks update

  • Level: 20
  • Small Blind: 6K
  • Big Blind: 12K
  • Ante: 2K
  • Chip Average: 354.3K
  • Remaining: 7
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    There are 7 players left in Event 5 – here are approximate chip counts for all of the remaining players.

    Final Table

    1. Empty Seat
    2. John Paul Tabago – 404K
    3. Empty Seat
    4. Charles-Eric Benoit – 293K
    5. John Power – 215K
    6. Isham Yamani – 188K
    7. Gregory Katayama – 329K
    8. Francois Goulet – 558K
    9. Sammy Lafleur – 472K
    10. Empty Seat

    JPP out 9th

  • Level: 20
  • Small Blind: 6K
  • Big Blind: 12K
  • Ante: 2K
  • Chip Average: 310K
  • Remaining: 8
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    Players Club member Jean-Philippe Piquette has been eliminated in 9th place in today’s $550 Freeze.

    JPP had only around 3.5 big blinds when he went all in. Francois Goulet raised to isolate, and when the rest of the players folded the players turned over their hands.

    Jean-Philippe: 10 of Spades 4 of Diamonds
    Francois: Queen of Spades Jack of Clubs

    The flop gave both players a pair: 4 of Clubs Queen of Hearts Ace of Clubs but Jean-Philippe couldn’t improve through the King of Spades 2 of Hearts turn and river and hit the rail.

    A couple of hands later, Mike Fraser was also eliminated. Event 5 is now down to 7 players.

    9th place: Jean-Philippe Piquette, $1,600

    Event 5-4588

    8th place: Mike Fraser, $2,100

    Event 5-4607

    Final Table of the $550 Freeze!

  • Level: 19
  • Small Blind: 5K
  • Big Blind: 10K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 275.6K
  • Remaining: 9
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    Gagandeep Singh has been eliminated in 11th place ($1,200) and the remaining 10 players have been randomly seated on the final table.

    Final Table

    1. Jean-Philippe Piquette
    2. John Paul Tabago
    3. Dustin Melanson
    4. Charles-Eric Benoit
    5. John Power
    6. Isham Yamani
    7. Gregory Katayama
    8. Francois Goulet
    9. Sammy Lafleur
    10. Mike Fraser

    In the first hand after the final table began, Dustin Melanson was eliminated as well, in 9th place ($1,200).

    Two quick min-cashes

  • Level: 19
  • Small Blind: 5K
  • Big Blind: 10K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 225.5K
  • Remaining: 11
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    Immediately after the bubble burst, two of the other short stacks were eliminated, but in their case for a $1000 prize each. The two players eliminated were Tommy Boily in 13th place and Alexandre Fortin in 12th.

    After the next player is eliminated, the final table of 10 players will be set, which comes along with a full redraw.

    Racine out on the bubble

  • Level: 19
  • Small Blind: 5K
  • Big Blind: 10K
  • Ante: 1K
  • Chip Average: 225.5K
  • Remaining: 13
  • Entries: 124


    • - by

    After 20 hands of hand-for-hand play, Olivier Racine has been eliminated in 14th place, and consequently the rest of the players are in the money.

    Olivier’s stack had been severely depleted by the time his final hand came along, but even though he was playing no more than a 3 big blind stack, he managed to fold both his big and small blinds. On the button, however, he held Ace of Hearts 6 of Hearts – enough to get it in.

    Mike Fraser – who no longer has a dominant stack in the tourney – found a call from the big blind, but was holding just 4 of Spades 9 of Diamonds.

    The flop was Queen of Clubs 10 of Hearts 7 of Diamonds – there was not much for anyone in it, and Ace-high probably seemed pretty safe, considering the circumstances. The turn, however, was a Jack of Spades and suddenly Mike was open-ended. The 8 of Diamonds on the river sealed the deal, and Olivier was eliminated.

    The bubble hand of Event 5

    The bubble hand of Event 5