LIVE EVENTS

Event #4, The $5000 + $300 High Roller kicked off today at 4:00pm and in the end it attracted a total of 93 entries (including re-entries) who played through eight 60 minute levels of play.

Some of the top names in the business were playing and the lead changed back and forth throughout the day. Alexis Urli, Chaalan Rahime, Eric Afriat and Aaron Van Blarcum were dominating the field for most of the day, however, many other players whose names did not appear on the leaderboard were still able to nurse very respectable stacks and will still have a serious shot at a deep run when the players return tomorrow at 2:00pm for Day 2.

In the end of it all, three players from Quebec made the top four spots. It was Louis Boutin who bagged the lead, with 201,200 chips. He is followed closely in second place Eric Afriat with 181,300 chips. In third place sits Chaalan Rahime with 117,500, and in fourth place, Alexis Urli with 109,000.

The players will return to play ten 60 minute levels on Day 2, and players can late register or re-enter right up until the start of level 13, which will be at 6:30pm, when the blinds will be at 800/1,600.

Day 2 is Tuesday at 2:00pm. Day 3 plays out to a winner on Wednesday at 12 noon.

End of day Chip leader Louis Boutin:

Arriving at the table there was already close to 6,000 in the middle on a flop. Firaz Jaka opened the action and he was flat called by Erci Afriat. Gil Levy then raised it up to 5,600 and received a call from Daniel Strelitz. Jaka folded and Afriat re-popped it to 15,000. Levy then made it 40,000 to go. Strelitz looked at his stack and moved all of his chips in. Afriat asked for a count. The dealer counted out 53,000, and after giving it some thought, Afriat then announced that he was all in. Gil Levy went deep into the tank, having already put in 40,000 and leaving himself just under 50,000 or so behind. He finally let go of his hand. The hands were tabled:

Afriat:
Strelitz: .

Afriat had flopped a set and Strelitz was on the nut flush draw. The turn came the and the river was the , another brick, and Strelitz was sent to the rail as Afriat just smiled while pulling in the pot.

There is less than 20 minutes left in this last level of the night and then the remaining players will bag for Day 2.

Eric pulling in the pot:

With the blinds at 200/400 and the average chip stack at 45,500, Alexis Urli has managed to take his stack way above the rest of the field, and is now playing a stack of 140,700 chips.

Here are the leaders from the break:

Action was opened by Joseph Cheong who raised it up to 800 and there were calls by Muhyadine Fares, Jonathan B., and Alex Fortin Demers. The flop came and Cheong led out for 2,200, followed by a call by Fares. When it was Jonathan B.’s turn to act, he re-raised to 7,000. Fortin Demers folded and Cheong shoved his remaining 8,050. Fares called as did Jonathan.

The turn was the and Fares chcked. Jonathan threw in a bet of 13,000 and Fares let go of his hand. Cheong and Jonathan opened their hands.

Cheong:
Jonathan:

Cheong had top two and Jonathan had flopped a set of fives. The river was a brick and Cheong picked up his belongings while Jonathan scooped in the pot.

The players have just returned from their second break of the day and with the chip average just a little over 37,000, one player has now managed to go north of 100,000; Aaron Van Blarcum, who is fresh off of taking down the WPT Legends of Poker in L.A. this past August (1st place, $474,390 USD), is currently in the driver’s seat in the High Roller with a stack of 125,875.

He is followed by local legend Eric Afriat (over USD$3.2M lifetime earnings including 1st place finishes in the 2018 $3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open and the 2014 $3300 No Limit Championship WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown) who currently has 97,900 in chips.

Here are the current leaders:

Ahmed Rehaime has seen his stack grow and then shrink, but he tried his best to run it back up. His table mates though had other plans for him, or so it seems.

Rehaime limped in from mid position and Eric Afriat decided to raise it up on the button to 1,700. Rehaime made the call. The flop came and Rehaime checked. Afriat decided that he was not going to have any of that and moved his stack all in. Rehaime folded.

A couple of hands later, Rehaime limped in again and was raised to 700 by Jeffrey Cormier. There were calls by Eric Afriat, Gil Levy and then by Rehaime . The flop came   and Rehaime checked.  Cormier bet 1,300 and Afriat three-bet to 3,800 in the low jack position. That was met by a four-bet to 7,000 by Gil Levy seated in the cut off. Rehaime didn’t hesitate and moved the rest of his chips (about 14,000) into the middle. Afriat folded and Levy called.

Rehaime :
Levy:

Rehaime had the flush draw and Levy flopped two pair. The turn and river were bricks and Rehaime was sent to the rail. He mentioned that he may take a small break and jump back in, however, he has already fired two bullets. Needless to say, Levy was pretty happy with both the flop and the run out.

The players have just returned from the first break of the day and there are now a total of 53 entries (including six re-entries). With an average stack at 34,565 chips, Chaalan Rahime is leading the pack with more than double the average, sitting on 78,850 chips.

Here is the first leaderboard of the day:

The players keep entering the tournament room and there are now 46 entries (including 4 re-entries) and the tournament is still only in level two. With this pace, it looks like there will be a really good turnout and a large field for sure. Players have until the start of level 13 on Day 2 to jump into the action, when the blinds will be at 800/1,600.

There is some top talent in the filed today including: Eric Afriat, Kevin Javier, Chanracy Khun, Louis Boutin, Jamie Sequeira, Edward Hislop, William Blais, Philippe D’Auteuil, Pierre-Pual Paulin, Marc-Etienne Mclaughin, Ema Zajmovic, Tony Dunst, and Jonathan B., just to name a few.

Here are some photos of the field:

Welcome to Event #4, the $5,000 + $300 High Roller. This is a three-day event where players start with 30,000 chips and and play eight-handed through eight 60-minute levels on Day 1. The play continues tomorrow at 2:00pm for Day 2 where they will be playing 10 levels. Day 3 will take place on Wednesday October 30 at 12:00pm.

There is a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool so there is no question that this tournament offers tremendous value to the players. There are also unlimited re-entries available until the end of the late registration period at the start of level 13 on Day 2.

The floor has just announced “dealers…shuffle up and deal!” and the cards are in the air!

The first re-entry has already taken place so you know that this event will be nothing less than action packed!

Good luck to all the competitors.