Play has begun in level 9 as players have returned from a break while tournament staff removed the T25 chips from play. Roger Lamia remains the chip leader by a wide margin, and he is joined by just two other players over the 100K mark.
The prize pool has now been finalized and published on the screens in the Tournament Hall – we’ll publish it here shortly.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| Roger | Lamia | 216,100 |
| Raphael | Ohayon | 132,300 |
| Jacques | Bigonesse | 111,600 |
Roger Lamia is a very experienced player – and give Roger 5 times the chip average and he’s a dangerous player in a good spot.
Luckily we have an accurate report of how he got all of those chips.
Isham Yamani had been playing on the table for some time and had busted a few players, building up a stack of over 140K. Roger arrived from a broken table with 105K and in one of his first hands on the table, he raised to 2,200 and found a call from Isham and a third player, who started the hand with a 28K stack.
The flop brought fireworks: 
Everyone hit a big piece of the flop: Roger was playing 
, Isham held 
, and the third player held 
!
Roger led out with a bet of 7,000 chips, and Isham smooth called. Then the third player shoved his remaining 26K. Roger called, and action turned to Isham – holding the nut straight – who shoved over the the top for about 145K. Roger called and the fates were sealed.
The turn was the 
– which gave the third player a flush draw in addition to his two pairs, but was generally a decent card for Isham. The river would not be so friendly: it was the 
– Roger had made Quad 7s!
Roger is now up over 220K while Isham was reduced to just a tournament-average stack and the third player in the hand was eliminated.
Registration closed in Event 6 at the beginning of the current level (level 7) and a total of 115 players ended up joining the event before late reg ended. This will generate a very healthy prize pool of $33,465.00 – we’ll have the final payout table available in just a few minutes.
The tournament is only in level 5, but three players have taken a bit of a lead on the field and have set themselves up for a possible deep run.
| First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Stack | Tapis |
|---|---|---|
| John | Power | 65,000 |
| Jeff | Rosenblatt | 60,000 |
| Serge | Grenier | 57,000 |
Registration continues to be open and players are taking advantage of the extra time available – there are now 110 entries with 30 minutes left to join the tournament.
Today’s $330 Deepstack has moved into the 3rd 30-minute level of the day, and despite the weather there are already 80 players at the tables with more than 2 hours still left to register.
Photos taken during levels 2-3
As the song says, the weather outside is frightful. But though the only fire is in the Rail Coal Fire Bistro, it’s warm and cozy in the Tournament Hall here at Playground Poker Club. Play has just gotten underway in today’s $300 + $30 NL Hold’em Deepstack tournament, which is Event 6 in the TonyBet Winter Festival.
Having just arrived, I can report that although traffic is slow on the streets and highways around Montreal, travel by car seems quite safe – it’s warm enough outside that there isn’t a lot of ice on the roads although there are some large puddles to avoid.
Due to the inclement weather, we made the decision yesterday to extend late registration for an additional 2 levels in this tournament, so you can arrive any time until 2:15pm and still get in the tournament. Players start with 25K in chips and late registrants start with a full stack, so this is a great opportunity to play in a fantastic event and avoid the weather outside!
There are 37 players at the tables as play begins, but players are arriving every couple of minutes so despite the weather, it looks like we’ll have a reasonably large field today – so come and try for a piece of what looks like will be a healthy prize pool!
Event 5 of the TonyBet Winter Festival attracted a total of 111 participants and it took over 8 hours to play down to the eventual champion, Réjean Grenier!
There was a player deal reached at 7 players remaining – they chose an even chop of the prize pool while reserving $315 and the trophy for the winner of the tournament. The deal proved to be a great way to “activate” the remaining players – and immediately following, Réjean eliminated 2 players in a single hand leaving just 5 remaining. A few minutes later say François-Étienne Corbin follow the rest of the players to the rail. Things slowed momentarily but then in the span of just a a few hands Denis Asselin and Kevin Birss were eliminated, leaving just Réjean and Yannick Labattaglia alive in the tourney.
The heads-up battle was relatively epic for a single-day tournament, lasting almost 45 minutes. Yannick managed to come from behind multiple times from as much as a 6-1 chip deficit… until the last attempt.
Réjean: 
Yannick: 
Community cards: 
Event 5 Champion: Réjean Grenier, $2,250
2nd place: Yannick Labattaglia, $1,935
Final hand of the tournament
Event 5 in the TonyBet Winter Festival was a $150 + $15 NL Hold’em 8-Max tournament that had 111 total runners for a prize pool of $16,150.00. This was distributed according to the following payout table.
Note that there were two player deals made during the course of the event. First, $250 was taken from the scheduled 1st prize and given to the player in 13th place. Next, there was a player deal reached at 7 players remaining. They reserved $315 and the trophy for 1st place and evenly divided the remaining prize pool. Both of these deals are reflected in the payout table.
| Rank | Pos | First Name | Prénom | Last Name | Nom | Prize | Bourse |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rejean | Grenier | $2,250.00 |
| 2 | Yannick | Labattaglia | $1,935.00 |
| 3 | Kevin J | Birss | $1,935.00 |
| 4 | Denis | Asselin | $1,935.00 |
| 5 | Francois-Etienne | Corbin | $1,935.00 |
| 6 | Jean-Eric | Gaudreault | $1,935.00 |
| 7 | Yang | Guo | $1,935.00 |
| 8 | J-Sebastien | Schick | $590.00 |
| 9 | Sofiane | Boulila | $450.00 |
| 10 | Joe-Elie | Assio | $340.00 |
| 11 | Garry | Thompson | $340.00 |
| 12 | Imran | Hussain | $320.00 |
| 13 | Daniel | Leddy | $250.00 |
After losing Sofiane Boulila and J-Sebastien Schick in 9th and 8th respectively, the remaining 7 players decided to negotiate a deal. Given that stacks all fell between 240,000 and 400,000, they actually opted for an even chop, leaving behind the required 2% for the eventual winner (who will also take home the TonyBet Winter Festival Champion’s Trophy!).
They are pocketing $1,935 each, while the first place finisher will take home an additional $315.
Congratulations!
Réjean Grenier shoved all-in from utg+1 holding 
and found a call from the small stack in the big blind holding just 
. The community cards brought no miracles for J-Sebastien and he was eliminated in 8th place.
8th place: J-Sébastien Schick, $590
