The $330 Bounty is a consistently popular tournament and this edition kept up the tradition. This closing tournament of the 2018 Playground Winter Festival brought 135 players to the felts, building a prize pool that easily surpassed the $30,000.00 guarantee.
Bounty hunting was the theme of the early levels, as the $100 bounty chips enticed players to try everything to bust out their opponents. Play continued in this fashion until the field narrowed down to three tables. From there the mantra “tight is right” seemed to take over as the players dug in and waited for strong hands; the hunt for bounties became an afterthought once the prize money was on the horizon. Every decision then became a painstaking calculation.
In the end, Stephane Bedard outlasted all the others. Even after an ICM chop was negotiated when three players remained, Bedard stayed focused on his goal: the Champion’s trophy. After Bedard eliminated the third place finisher, Alberto Dumitru, it was a heads-up match between two Playground regulars, Bedard and Ben Menache. They traded a few blinds back and forth before Menache decided he had a good hand to gamble with and called off his stack to Bedard’s pre-flop all in. It was 
for Bedard and 
for Menache. Neither player connected with the board and Bedard’s king high was good enough for the win.
Bedard is a seasoned poker veteran who is well known in the local poker community who was playing for pride and the trophy more than the prize money. And as the champion, he gets all three! Congratulations!
Event #17 Champion: Stephane Bedard – $5,230.00 and the champion’s trophy
Runner up: Ben Menache – $4,995.00
Last hand of play:
