Coverage from Las Vegas...
Hello everyone
It is currently noon, Vegas time, and it is now that our 40 winners will start a life changing poker experience. They have been joined by 6 other players from Quebec, to compete against the rest of the world. They are Pierre Martel, André Boyer, Odette Tremblay, Suzanne Lussier, Annie Lantin, Louise Boyer et Denis Éthier (a player who lives in Vegas and has been making a living from poker for 25 years).
Just to give an overview of the caliber of players registered, World Champion Greg Raymer, as well as well known Paul Eskimo Clark and Dutch Boyd are playing in this tournament. It promises to be quite interesting.
The starting chip stack is 4,000 units, with a first level of blinds at 25/ 50 for 60 minutes. 251 players are currently registered for this tournament.
12h05... Ouch !!! Daniel Boyer from Montreal is the first player out of the tournament. After having raised his KQ os right before a K27 flop, he bet 2,000, which was immediately called the other player. The turn brings a third K and Daniel pushes all-in, called by the other player’s pocket deuces. The river doesn’t deliver and Daniel pushes the rest of his stack of 50 chips with his pocket 7 on the next hand and is called by Q6. A 7 comes out on the flop, along with a 5, an 8 and finally a 9 for the straight takes him out.
A few minutes later, Jonathan Leblanc from Pont Rouge makes a great lay down with his QQ against a reraised KK, while Daniel Hébert from Montreal went all-in with his QQ againt AA. Another player from Quebec eliminated.
Good news, Pierre Martel from Châteauguay just doubled up.
Now it’s really going strong....
Frédéric Brisson from Quebec City, out with KJ on a board of JJ10 on the flop. Unfortunately for him, his opponent had J10 in his hand. Wow !!! Lady Luck flirts for a while with our southern neighbours.
Andrée Gauvin from Repentigny : QJ, flop QQ9 , his strong reraise is called. Turn : 2, his opponent checks, she bets, opponent pushes all-in and she calls. A 5 on the river. The opponent’s hand: KQ... Bye bye Andrée.
1h00pm... Final tournament stats are displayed on the many tv screens in the poker room. Here they are:
Total number of players: 258 ; Prize pool: 250,263 $ ; Places paid: 27
1st : 92,593 $, 2nd : 47,549 $, 3rd : 25,026 $, 4th : 15,016 $, 5th: 10,010 $
6th : 7,508 $, 7th : 6,257 $, 8th : 5,005 $, 9th : 3,754 $,
10 to 12 : 3,128 $, 13 to 15 : 2,503 $, 16 to 18 : 2,002 $, 19 to 27 : 1,627 $
1h05pm... Just after the annoucement of the prize pool distribution, Dustin Clavette from Gatineau was rolled over by a king high straight flush! Beurk !!!
1h33pm local time, Michel Côté from Grenville sur la Rouge, eliminated.
Good news, the sympathetic Michel Perreault from Mont Tremblant has had in his hand so far (13h42) 3 pocket Aces, with which he went all-in everytime. He won 2 and lost one.
1h46pm, Jonathan Landry-Riendeau from Rouyn Noranda who has played a low profile game since the beginning called an all-in bet pre-flop with his AA. His opponent’s Q8 of clubs hold their own because he makes his flush on the turn.
1h47pm, L’Assomption loses its horse, Maxime Jacques, stuck between K10 and AA with his AK. Oups !!!
No hands are alike. Michel Perreault from Mont Tremblant was just eliminated along with Jocelyn Lauzon from Les Coteaux who was unlucky with his straight against an opponent running and hitting his flush on the river.
Just before the 15 minute break, Manfred Beaunegre from Longueuil his shown the door.
2h20pm local time... Marie Claude Lavoie from Chicoutimi is eliminated.
2h25pm... The always smiling Benoit Fournier from Les Mechins is also eliminated.
2h30pm... It’s Jeannot Roy’s turn, from Jonquière to leave the tournament.
Two ladies from Quebec, Annie Lantin and Suzanne Lussier get out, one after the other, followed by François Quezel from l’Ange Gardien.
It is currently 3h00pm... the blinds are 100/200, there is 171 joueurs left, spread amongst 19 tables and the average chip count is 6,000.
Dominique Jemus-Larente from Gatineau, Claude Vadeboncoeur from St-Nicolas and Mathieu Gosselin from Rivière du Loup will not go any further.
3h10pm... Jonathan Thériault from Roberval who got QJ of diamonds in the big blind, is facing a reraise to 1,200 which he calls. The flop comes 3d9dJs. He bets 1,000, quickly raised 1,000 more by the chip leader. He goes all-in and the chip leader calls with KK. Nothing good on the turn or the river and it’s byebye Jonathan.
3h20pm... Alain Gélinas from Gatineau’s straight to the ace is crushed by the spades flush that his opponent got on the river.
3h23pm... It’s Elsa Lamiel from Montreal’s turn to be out of the tournament.
And it continues. The tension is high. Right now, about one player a minute gets out of the tournament. There’s only 144 players left. We are at a crucial point in the tournament, it makes or breaks. The antes are starting.
3h46pm... Pascal Émond from Notre Dame du Mont Carmel and the patien Sébastien Drolet-Poitras from St-Constant cannot go any further.
3h55pm... Odette Tremblay, André Boyer’s wife, is eliminated, followed closely by Mike Wolowicz from St-Lazarre, Allen Pelletier from Les Mechins and Alain Rondeau from Louiseville.
4h08pm... 2 players butt heads pre-flop putting 2,500 each in the pot. The flop comes 234. The first player checks, the other one pushes all-in with 5,000 and QQ. He’s called with AK. After an insignificant turn, the river shows a 5. The holder of the pocket Queens, William McNulty from St Gabriel de Brandon is eliminated.
4h15pm, just before the 15 minute break, André Boyer with QQ calls the 800 bet from his table’s chip leader. Flop : J1010. André bets 1,500 and his opponent calls. On the turn, a 4. André pushes all-in with 3,500. His opponent calls with J10. Of course, the Q doesn’t appear on the river and André is out.
Jonathan Leblanc from Pont Rouge is also eliminated just before the break.
4h30pm... The blinds are at 200/400 with 25 ante. There are 108 players left on 12 tables. The average chip stack is 9,000 chips and Alexandre Pageot from Quebec City just got out of the tournament.
4h54pm... Nicolas Savard from l’Ancienne Lorette, low stack at his table, pushes all-in his 2,500 chipswith A7 of spades and the big blind calls with pocket 7s. The flop shows 2 spades for Nicolas, but the turn and river don’t bring anything good.
4h55pm... it’s Étienne Dion from Mont Tremblant’s turn to get shown the exit, as well as Denis Éthier from Vegas.
Denis Pinard from Asbestos pushed his 4,000 chips all-in pre-flop with his AK off suit and a player with 89called. The flop completed the straight for his opponent.
Marc André Cloutier from Lévis pushes his KK all-in pre-flop and the small blind calls his bet of 7,500 chips with JJ. The flop comes 710K, the turn, an 8 and the river, a 9. Wow !!! That one is hard to take!
6h15pm... Yannick Beaudin from Windsor and Sébastien St-Pierre from Mont Tremblant both get eliminated just before the supper break. Sébastien pushed all-in (3,600) with QJ and his rival called with A2. He hit his 2 on the river.
It is now 6h30pm and there is a break for supper until 7:45pm.
There are 45 players left on 9 tables. The chip stacks average 23,000. After the break, the blinds will be 400/800 with a 75 ante.
Still in the running: Pierre Martel from Chateauguay with 17,700 chips. Louise Boyer from St-Rémi with 14,450 chips. Sandra Seto from Gatineau with 7,775 chips. André Gauvin from Chicoutimi with 6,500 chips. Richard Maurice from Québec City with 5,500 chips. The action will continue around 8:00pm.
Here we go...
8h24pm... André Gauvin from Chicoutimi finished his tournament with an aall-in of 2,100 chips with AQ of clubs against KK. "I’m very happy with my performance because I wanted to show that I was a good player even though my participation at this tournament came as a result of a draw at the Montreal Casino".
8h26pm... Richard Maurice from Québec City loses almost all his chips when he pushed all-in with AK, called by K6. The 6 came out on the flop and he was left hoping for a miracle on the next hand with his A5 and 1,600 chips left on the button.
It is now offical, SANDRA SETO from Gatineau is crowned STAGE I 2008 CHAMPION and consequently, First Champion of the League. She therefore gets the beautiful gold ring, which will be presented to her tomorrow, during a ceremony in her honor.
Congratulations Sandra ... and keep it up because there are only 35 players left.
8h55pm... Pierre Martel from Châteauguay, on the small blind get 93. A player before the button decides to call. Pierre matches the big blind, who checks. The flop comes 396. Pierre checks, the big blind also checks and the 3rd player bets 4,000. Pierre immediately pushes all-in while staring him down, but to his surprise, the big blind calls with pocket 6. Ouch !!! He never saw it coming! Exit stage door left!
9h00pm... blinds 600/1200 and 100 ante. 35 players left on 4 tables. Average chip stack: 29,500. 2 ladies from Quebec still playing: Louise Boyer and Sandra Seto.
9h43pm... Louise Boyer from St-Rémi, reraises 4,000 chips and is all-in with AQ off suit. Opponent calls with A10. Flop comes A86 and the turn a 10. Louise is eliminated. Congratulations Louise.
Only 29 players left in the tournament. Sandra Seto is still there. Will she be able to hold on until 2 more players are eliminated? She is totally drained and has trouble seeing the cards. Her vision is blurry. The tension is at its maximum. Maybe win the ring and some money? It would be quite the feat.
10h34pm... at last, the wait is over. Sandra Seto is in the money at this event. Congratulations. A young Quebec player holds her head high against a whole field of great poker players. The league now has its champion.
10h45pm... A player with AK is all-in pre-flop. Sandra calls with KK and another player also calls with 1010. Nothing flops and he gets a 10 on the river. The tournament is now over for the league. Everyone is fully satisfied. We couldn’t ask for more on this first experience.
The Outaouais can be proud of its champion.
Bravo SANDRA.
Next appointment, the WSOP at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas in June 2008...
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