LIVE EVENTS

We lost Lisa Reilly just now, but she had a great run. She had just doubled up through (who else?) Marie-Claude Grondin on a wild hand, but then had the exact same luck reversed on her only a couple of hands later.

The first hand began with Lisa’s against Marie-Claude’s . The flop came down , and things looked bleak for Lisa. However, she caught a miraculous to make the wheel. It was probably the fifth or sixth time she had escaped doom that way, making a straight when she was behind in a hand.

Unfortunately, what goes around comes around, and Marie-Claude had the last laugh when she pulled a straight out of the fire to eliminate Lisa just a couple of hands later. This time Lisa had the stronger starting hand with an versus Marie-Claude’s . The board was dealt and we said goodbye to Lisa.

Her third place finish earned her $2,340. Congratulations! Not a bad pay day at all!

Although Marie-Claude Grondin had been doubling up her opponents in the first hour and a half of the final table, she ended up clawing most of it back in the last hour and a half. Fresh off her elimination of Shaelene Mcinnis, her sights were now on her next target, Debra Ann Holman.

Debra hit her jack and got her chips in where she wanted, it just wasn’t enough. Her ace-jack couldn’t top Marie-Claude’s jack-ten on a 4-J-3-8-10 board. With that, Derba took home fourth place and a $1,645 prize. Congratulations on an excellent tournament, we hope to see you again soon!

As she had a dozen times before over the last hour, Shaelene Mcinnis shoved for her tournament life preflop. But unlike the last dozen times, this times she was called by the (still) chip leader Marie-Claude Grondin. Shaelene had the better hand, but not the better luck, as her was beaten by Marie-Claude’s . The board was dealt , and we said goodbye to Shaelene.

She takes home fifth place, $1,205, and a bunch of new friends. Well done!

While we were writing the last post, Line Vincent took her leave from the final table as well. We were not able to see the hand that sent her packing, but we did hear a friendly round of applause for her from the remaining players. Line takes home $915 for her efforts today. Well done!

Even though it’s getting late and there are a lot of tired players at the final table, now there are only five players left, and just over $15,000 left in the prize pool. Is an ICM chop on the horizon? We’ll see!

It had been a long while since a player was eliminated, but it finally happened just now to Beth Beattie, a smiling and positive force throughout the tournament. Her demise came at the hands of Roberta Biancardi when Beth’s couldn’t overcome Roberta’s .

The board was dealt , and although Beth paired her 8 on the river, it was no match for Roberta’s pair of kings. Beth takes home $725 for her seventh place. Congratulations on a well-played tournament.

As we finish off our twelfth hour of play here at the WPT Ladies Event, the final table is still going strong.

Our chip leader Marie-Claude Grondin is still up top – but she has doubled up two more players since we last posted. The first of the latest batch of double-ups went to Line Vincent. Line shoved preflop with a , but since Line only had three big blinds left, Marie-Claude decided to call with only a . Somewhat predictably, Line took down the hand with her queen-high hand.

About 30 minutes later Marie-Claude shoved all-in preflop, but this time she had a hand. Lisa Reilly didn’t have many chips left, but thought her hand was worth a shot, so she called with an . She found herself up against Marie-Claude’s , and prayed for a diamond or a club flush. Lisa didn’t get her wish, but DID get a great board, which came down . Lisa’s six-high straight took the hand, and now Marie-Claude has officially doubled up four of her six opponents at the final table.

Play continues…

The big stack at the table is Marie-Claude Grondin, who looks to be holding more than 1.2 million in chips out of a total of 2.8 million on the table. With only six other competitors against her, those are some good odds. That’s why it didn’t hurt her too badly to double up a couple of her opponents recently. The lucky recipients of Marie-Claude’s largesse were Roberta Biancardi and Shaelene Mcinnis. Now those two are in a better position moving forward, but there is still a large hill to climb if they want to truly pose a threat.

The ladies are now on break, and will return to play in level 21, where the blinds are 12,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante.

Elaine Rawn was down to her last 100,000 chips or so and decided to shove. It was a good move this late in the game considering the cards she was holding, and the fact that she only had about four big blinds left. She found a dancing partner in Lisa Reilly (in blue below), who was also very short-stacked. Lisa called and flipped over her , and Elaine threw down her pocket fours.

It was over in a flash, as Lisa flopped an ace-high straight. The table erupted in laughter and surprise and sent another one of their friends to the rail. Elaine took home eighth place, $600, and a slew of new buddies.

Play continues…

Rarely at a final table do you hear the whole group erupt in laughter and applause at every turn – it’s usually a much more somber and serious affair. But that’s the difference between a mixed-sex final table and a ladies final table – the ladies have much more fun!

And even though it’s never fun to say goodbye to friends, that’s what we have to do in this case. Finishing in ninth place and taking home $520 is Helene Dufour. She played an excellent tournament, and takes home a nice prize. Thanks for playing, and see you next time!

The final table of the WPT Montreal’s Ladies Event can now be seated, as we have just nine players left. Congratulations to all of the women who have hung in there and made it! But before we go on, let’s take a minute to congratulate the last few departures.

We had Stefany Ouellet who took home the unfortunate honor of being this tournament’s bubble lady. She finished in thirteenth place, and missed the money by one spot. It took almost ten hours to get there, and she was so close! Bad luck. Better luck next time!

The first three women to be eliminated in the money were Sivajini Kathiravelu (12th place, $470), Louise Francoeur (11th place, $470) and Michelle Huot (10th place, $520). All three played an excellent tournament, and it was a shame that they couldn’t last just a little bit longer to make the final table. But there are only nine spaces, and there’s no way around that.

Speaking of nine spaces, here is a list of our final tablists and their seating positions.