LIVE EVENTS

After just a couple of hands, Ami Alibay ended up getting bounced in third place. He takes home his prize of $13,400, and leaves the other two to hash out the winner. The final hand for Ami involved a pocket pair of eights (his) versus a suited ten-jack for Josef.

The board was dealt , and Josef got his flush just as Ami got his trip-eights. All’s well that ends well, though. It’s now heads up between the final two players, Josef Ares and Bill Kontaratos. Good luck!

With only three players remaining and the prospect of much more poker over the horizon, our somewhat tired trio has decided to explore some options regarding an ICM chop in an effort to speed up the end of the game and come to an amicable resolution. It was a good choice for them, as they were all basically equal in terms of chip stacks, and there was a lot of money on the line.

In the end, based on their respective chip amounts and some discussion, they came to the following agreement. Instead of a $20,818 (first), $14, 610 (second) and $9,390 (third) division, they would split the pot accordingly:

Josef: $14,677

Bill: $14,500

Ami: $13,400

Of course, the group will still play down to a champion, and that winner will receive an extra $2,241. We’ll see what happens now that they have all agreed on a formula! Good luck to all!

What do they say about poker? Play the man, not the cards.

Well, that’s usually true – but not this time. Soonmath Datta decided that his opponent Josef Ares didn’t have the cards when he saw the flop, and he bluffed with a . His all-in shove was a case study in extremely bad timing.

Josef flipped over his , and the turn and river  were of no help. But there were no hard feelings – Soonmath was gracious about his loss, smiling and walking away in fourth with a substantial prize of $6,680. Well done, and better luck next time!

Soomnath Datta has doubled up several opponents several times throughout the course of this final table, starting with some of the smaller stacks earlier on and continuing through with larger stacks as well. It seemed about time that his luck finally reversed itself, helping him to double up off of someone else for a change. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Soomnath’s preflop shove, for the third time in the last ten hands, found a caller in Ami Alibay. It was Soonmath’s against Ami’s . The poker gods smiled on Soonmath, gifting him with a board, building up his stack substantially while at the same time reducing Ami to less than a million, a position he has found himself in for the first time today.

No one was eliminated on the play, but it has changed the dynamic.

However, what the gods giveth, the gods taketh away. Just two hands later the same two players were all in against each other, with Ami’s tournament life on the line.

This time it was Ami who came out on top, as his took out Soonmath’s . The flop had come down   when they went all in, and the lead switched twice more before the hand was over, with an turn and a river. That’s poker!

Play continues…

Philippe Laudy had a habit of shoving preflop and not getting called recently – it had happened half a dozen times in the last hour alone and no one ever saw what he had, since he was never forced to show his cards. The latest shove changed that and resulted in his ouster by Josef Ares, who had found himself with aces.

Philippe’s king-queen wasn’t enough, and he finished in fifth place for $5,110. Well done Philippe, see you next time.

This time the player to be sent to the rail by Bill Kontaratos was Alexandre Levesque. When Bill shoved preflop, Alex instantly called with his , and he was way ahead too. That’s why it must have been gutting to see the board turn Bill’s inferior into a flush on the river, at the last possible moment.

Still, it was a good tournament for Alex, who heads home in sixth place, taking home $4,210. Congratulations on your final table cash.

Levon Dedeyan was just knocked out of the Playground 200 when his shove was called by Bill Kontaratos’ pocket pair of . The board was dealt , and that was the end of the night for Levon. He leaves with a seventh place finish and a $3,490 prize. Well done!

One of the two short stacks on the table, Philippe Laudy, shoved preflop from mid position for his remaining 765,000 chips just now. The table folded around to Samy Elgrably on the button, and he thought long and hard about it. He was also short-stacked, and ultimately decided to call.

Samy:

Philippe:

The poker gods were not in Samy’s side in this hand, as the board was dealt and he was eliminated in eighth for $2,770. Well done today Samy, better luck next time.

Ami Alibay got his chips in when they counted, and his took out Noy U, who unfortunately also had a fantastic hand, just at the wrong time.

Noy’s were ultimately powerless against Ami’s aces. The board confirmed Noy’s worst fears when it was dealt . He is the first player eliminated from the final table, and was not the short stack by any means. Ami now finds himself with a significant chip boost, the actual short stacks can breathe a sigh of relief, and we are now down to the final eight players.

Congratulations go out to Noy for an excellent tournament, his ninth place finish earns him $2,080.

One of the short stacks at the table just made a well-timed double up after shoving into an underdog position. Philippe Laudy ended up getting his chips in with an against Noy U’s . Unfortunately for Noy, the board came down . Philippe made his flush, and still has a shot.

At the final table, no one has been eliminated as of yet. However, the player with the most chips is easily Bill Kontaratos, holding 4, 360,000 chips at last count. His closest rival, Josef Ares, has just under 2,000,000 chips out of a total of 14,000,000 spread around the table.

Play continues…