The exciting CA$15 Million GTD partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America festival came to its end Wednesday evening with the final of the Main Event which was taken down by United States’ Taylor Black. After an impressive presence during the two final days of the tournament, Black faced the more experienced poker pro Darryll Fish and defeated him, claiming the champion title and the first place prize of CA$1.4 million.
The American player was one of over 650 entrants who took part in the CA$5,300 No-limit Hold’em Main Event which kicked off April 24 at Montreal’s Playground Poker Club. It had a guaranteed prize pool of CA$10 million and promised to turn those who manage to get to the first three spots into millionaires. Keeping its promise, the tournament crowned its champion last night – Taylor Black from Santa Cruz, California, who is now CA$1,400,000 richer (approx. US$1,093,425) and with total live career earnings of little over US$2 million. This is the largest cash prize for Black so far after his previous best score of $ 545,430 when he finished second at the $565 NLH The Colossus III event during the 2017 WSOP in Las Vegas.
Day 5 of the Main Event started at noon with the nine finalists who returned to their seats on the feature table. The first one to bust was Guillaume Nolet (Canada) who was eliminated on the official final table bubble by Anthony Ruberto and received $150,000. Tommy Nguyen (Canada) was also sent home and for his 8th place, he banked $215,000. The next casualties were also poker pros from Canada George Lagos (7th, $302,500), Demosthenes Kiriopoulos (6th, 400,000), and Charles La Boissonniere (5th, $600,000). Markus Prinz from Germany was eliminated shortly after La Boissonniere and received $800,000 for his fourth place.
The final three players on the table – Anthony Ruberto, Taylor Black, and Darryll Fish, all from the United States, reached the million dollar threshold and took a short break. Around 20 minutes after play was resumed, Ruberto was eliminated in 3rd place and took home $1 million. The final heads-up battle, however, continued for more than two hours despite Black’s apparent advantage. When the two sat against each other, he held a three-to-one chip lead over Fish.
The hand the determined the winner saw Darryll Fish on the button who raised to 45 million with Queen-9, Black opted for a three-bet to 140 million as he held Ace-Ace, and Fish called. After the flop revealed 4-6-9, Black bet 130 million and Fished raised all-in, after which Black, of course, made the call. Even with a 6 on the turn and a Queen on the river, Fish had no chance against Black’s pair of Aces. Taylor Black claimed the victory for $1,4 million and Fish came out second with a cash prize that was just as exciting – $1,2 million.
Two More Trophies on Wednesday
There are several more tournaments that ran alongside the Main Event during partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America and two of them crowned their champions on Wednesday. The Turbo event featured an entry fee of $1,100 and a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million. On Day 2, 140 players had a chance for the trophy and the lion share of the prize pool, but it was David Shao who came out victorious. After he defeated Griffin Benger in the final heads-up, he took home the first place prize of $157,500.
The other tournament that was being played alongside the Main Event last night was the exciting $10,000 Buy-in Finale tournament, designed for high-rollers. Most of the notable players in the MILLIONS festival had decided to compete for the Finale title. Michael Sklenička from the Czech Republic was declared champion and the runner-up was Timothy Reilly (United States).
