The current season of partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America series is still underway at the beautiful Playground Poker Club in Montreal, but it already granted several attractive cash rewards. On Tuesday, the poker festival crowned two champions who took home a combined amount of more than half a million dollars. Christopher Kruk won the $25,500 Super High Roller, while later that evening, Karim-Olivier Kamal came out victorious at the $1,100 Open event, which started Saturday and finished with tough 13 hours of poker yesterday.
The three-day Open event at Playground Poker Club in Montreal drew a massive field of 1,231 entrants during the two starting flights over the weekend. On Day 2, 392 players returned to their seats while only 68 of them made it to Day 3, among them 2014 WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jackobson and WSOP bracelet winners Chris Moorman, Mohsin Charania, and Martin Jackobson. At the final table, the top nine grinders played conservatively as the guaranteed minimum cash was only $12,000, while the winner would receive more than $200,000.
The first casualty of the Canada-dominated final table was Quebec-based Sebastien Drolet-Poitras who took the guarantee, followed by Germany’s Alexander Hartung (8th, $15,000). The next elimination was two hours later when Ryan Yu busted in 7th place ($20,000). Soon, Sweden’s Martin Jackobson (6th, $28,000) and Australia’s Alexander Lynsky (5th,$40,000) were sent home by the same player who eliminated Yu, Karim-Olivier Kamal from Canada. Aaron Duczak finished 4th for $58,000 after facing Kamal, as well. Another notable player was then eliminated – Chris Moorman walked off in 3rd place, taking home $88,000.
His departure left two Canadians, Kauvsegan Ehamparam and Karim-Olivier Kamal to compete for the trophy, with Kamal having nearly 1 billion in chips. The two runners played for more than two levels and despite Ehamparam’s discipline and little wins, Kamal’s constant raising was decisive for the heads-up battle. In the final hand, Kamal moved all in from the button and Ehamparam called after looking his Ace-Jack. Although he had a strong hand, Kamal took the lead when the flop showed 7-5-10, with 2 on the turn and 9 on the river. The pair of 10s were enough to eliminate Ehamparam in the second place for a consolation prize of $133,920. The winner took home $210,000, the biggest live tournament cash Kamal has ever won in his career.
partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America $25,500 Super High Roller
The two-day MILLIONS North America Super High Roller kicked off Monday with a $1 million in guarantees and a fair number of notable poker pros such as Swedish high-stakes poker star Victor Blom, WSOP bracelet winner Pascal LeFrancois, successful New York high roller Alex Foxen, partypoker Ambassador Joao Simao, and partypoker Sponsored Pros Kristen Bicknell and Roberto Romanello. Not all, however, returned to the tables on Day 2 when only 15 players had the chance to compete for the seven money places. Among those hoping to make it to the final table was chip leader Darren Elias from the United States, who held the chip lead during the MILLIONS North America High Roller but did not survive to the money places.
With a massive stack of more than 8.8 million in chips, Elias was far ahead of the others and was followed by Blom (6.75 million) and Kevin Hobbs (4.45 million). Several eliminations followed, including Hobbs who busted in 11th place, Joao Simao in 9th place, and Blom who lost half of his stack and was then eliminated on the bubble by Chance Kornuth (US). The final seven players cashed a minimum of $60,000 and the first one to leave the feature table was Canada’s John Krpan (7th, $60,000). He was followed by US’ Victor Ramdin (6th, $80,000) and UK’s Niall Farrell (5th, $100,000). Two Americans finished 4th and 3rd in the tournament, namely Chance Kornuth who banked a nice sum of $125,000 and Elias, who took home an even nicer prize of $165,000.
Antony Zinno (US) took the lead in the final heads-up against Canadian poker pro Christopher Kruk, but after a few hands, Kruk dominated with 4 million chips over Zinno. In the final hand, Zinno was in control after opening to 1,500,000 on the button with 7-7 but after considering all options for a while, Kruk shoved all in. This was the right move as he had Ace-5, while the flop was Queen-Jack-2, with another Queen on the turn and a Jack on the river. Zinno’s pair of 7s was countered when the board double-paired and Kruk’s Ace-high took down the pot. Finishing second, Zinno bagged $234,750, while the Super High Roller winner took home the trophy and a cash prize of $375,000.
