LIVE EVENTS

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The $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada was the marquee event of Playground’s 9-Year Anniversary Series, featuring an outstanding $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. There were numerous starting flights, both live and online on partypoker. When the Day 1s came to an end, there were a total of 2,696 runners who came from near and far, allowing the prize pool to swell above the guarantee. All players who qualified for Day 2 were in the money, and any player who bagged in multiple flights received a $400 min-cash for each forfeited bag.

Play resumed with 366 players on Saturday December 15 to play Day 2. It was a long day of poker as some player’s stacks were being built up while others were being sent to the cashier to collect their payouts. The chip lead changed through the day as one by one, players fell until only 16 were left in their seats with stacks of chips in front of them.

Day 3 resumed today when the final 16 started play on two eight-handed tables. All were assured a minimum payout of $2,500, but of course all eyes were on the top prize of $80,000, a nice score for such a modest buy-in. There were some short stacks who tried their best to secure an early double-up but ultimately most of the short stacks fell. Christopher Turnbull was on a great run but ended up exiting in sixth. Kevin Javier also went super deep but succumbed in third spot for $35,000, still a nice payday. Francois Gauthier was one of the short stacks who managed to pick the right spots to put his chips into the middle and kept adding to his stack. Alexandre Raymond was knocking out players, and his stack just kept growing. It finally became a heads-up battle between Francois Gauthier holding a slight lead over Alexandre Raymond. The two players decided to look at the ICM chop numbers but in the end, they just played on and kept the original payouts.

Heads-up play went on for some time and Gauthier had a good run but then lost some chips and fell behind Raymond. On the final hand of play, Raymond raised and Gauthier shoved, finding a call by Raymond. The hands were opened:

Gauthier:
Raymond:

It was looking good for Raymond, and Gauthier knew that he really needed to hit an ace to win the hand. The board ran out . After the dealer counted the stacks, Raymond had Gauthier covered and just like that, a champion was crowned in the Grand Prix Canada, Alexandre Raymond. Congratulations!

Grand Prix Canada Champion: Alexandre Raymond, $80,000

The Champion Ring:

Last hand of play:

Runner up: Francois Gauthier, $50,000

The final table:

Play is now heads-up between Francois Gauthier and Alexandre Roy. The two players are playing for $80,000 and the champion’s title, with the runner-up receiving $50,000. They asked the tournament staff to work out the ICM chop numbers, but after seeing the numbers, they decided to play on with the original payouts in place.

Here are their current stacks:

• Francois Gauthier: 148,900,000 chips
• Alexandre Raymond: 112,900,000 chips

Good luck to both players.

Kevin Javier played like a beast. At one point, he was in command and looked like he might end up taking it down. But everything can change quickly in tournament poker. After having lost chips, he put it in with a flush draw with on a flop and was called by Gauthier who held . The turn was the and the river was the , and Gauthier knocked out Javier with king high.

Javier will collect $35,000 for his third place finish.

Jean Roy uses a miniature Stanley Cup as a card protector, but it didn’t help this time. When Francois Gauthier opened, Roy raised all in, only to be called by Gauthier.

Roy:
Gauthier:

Gauthier wasn’t sure if he was ahead when he made the call but was stoked when he saw Roy’s hand. The board ran out , and Jean Roy finished in fourth place for $25,924. Good game!

Play is now four handed. Alexandre Raymond has a huge chip lead, sitting on just slightly more than 50 big blinds. The players have just had another break and after the chips were counted, they looked at the ICM numbers. In the end, no deal was reached so play continues.

The remaining payouts are as follows:

• 1st place: $80,000
• 2nd place: $50,000
• 3rd place: $35,000
• 4th place: $25,924

Loic Duguay was under the radar on Day 2 and then had a good run late in the day when it counted the most. He was patient today and was able to ladder up nicely, but his run just came to an end in fifth place for $18,000.

Christopher Turnbull is a good player and is a lot of fun to have on your table. He had a great run for sure but all good things must come to an end at some point. After losing a few key hands, when Jean Roy opened, Turnbull decided to rip it in with , hoping to either shut things down or to maybe pick up a nice pot. They say timing is everything, as Roy snap-called holding . The board came and Turnbull was left with just a little more than 1,000,000 chips. A few hands later his tournament run came to an end in sixth place, good for $13,000.

A little bit earlier there were two other eliminations:

• 7th place: Perry Rouzes, $9,000
• 8th place: Langis De Grand Pre, $6,500

Albert Nguyen cracked pocket aces twice on Day 2 but his luck just ran out on the final table. Alexandre Raymond opened in early position and when Nguyen looked down at a pair of fives he shoved his stack of 17 bigs and was called by Raymond.

Nguyen:
Raymond:

Raymond had a monster and to make things even that much worse for Nguyen, the flop came to make a set for Raymond. The turn and river were just formalities and Nguyen exits in ninth place with a cash out slip good for $5,000.

Alexandre Raymond and Francois Gauthier have chipped up nicely and now have the largest stacks in play.

Here is the lineup at the final table of the Grand Prix Canada. The finalists are playing with a lot on the line, as first place pays $80,000.

James Brown played a great game and at one point on Day 2 he was building a mountain, but he just fell in 10th spot, just shy of the nine-handed final table. He is now on his way to the cashier window to pick up his score of $4,000. Well played.

The players have just gone on their first break of the evening. When they return from the break, the final table table action will commence. Play is expected to slow down as players will be taking into account the ICM considerations, with ninth place paying out $5,000, and first place giving $80,000.

Play has been aggressive as everyone wants to have the opportunity to have as big a stack as possible on the final table. For some players it hasn’t worked out as they had hoped that it would, and there have now been three more eliminations:

• 11th place: Jean-Pascal Gauthier, $4,000
• 12th place: Rong Xu, $3,500
• 13th place: Steven Vinetti Huot, $3,500

Brigitte Korak was the “last woman standing” and she played a great game from start to finish. On Day 2 she never had one of the top stacks but through her skill and patience she was able to make the final 16 players heading into Day 3, all be it with one of the shorter stacks.

She waited for the right opportunity today and when she picked up pocket fours, her chips went in. Christopher Turnbull made the call and although Korak flopped a set, Turnball was able to river a flush to eliminate her in 14th position. The good news is that she was able to make a pay jump, collecting $3,000 for her deep run.