LIVE EVENTS

It didn’t take much time before Francis Fortin Chevalier had to go all in.  He got a call from Pierre-Luc Bourgeois, who was  in the midst of a running streak.

Francis:

Pierre-Luc:

Neither gentlemen got a piece of the board: so Pierre-Luc’s king high was enough to end Chevalier’s tournament

Francis Fortin Chevalier, 3rd position – $1,770

The players took a short break and we took the opportunity to survey the stacks.  Daniel Pépin is in great shape, having more than half the total chips in play in front of him.

No long after they returned, Ioannis Tsontakis went all-in with and received one single call from Francis-Fortin Chevalier.

Ioannis:

Francis: .

Board: .  The ace was good enough to send Ioannis to the rail in 4th position.

Ioannis Tsontakis, 4e position – $1,330

Joseph B. shoved all in for 83,000 and received two calls from Goran Brestovac and Daniel Pépin.  On the flop , both Pépin and Brestovac checked.  But when the appeared on the turn, Daniel Pépin bet and Goran snap folded.

As soon as Joseph saw Daniel’s hand, he knew he was in trouble.

Joseph:

Daniel:

There was no help from the river: and Pépin’s trip eight’s were enough to defeat Joseph, thus sending him to the rail in 6th position.

Not long after the departure of Joseph, Goran Brestovac pushed all in with confidence, holding .  He got a call from Pierre-Luc Bourgeois, who had been consistently winning pots for the last hour.  Pierre-Luc showed , and Goran seemed confident.  His smile waned a bit when the flop came out: .  The turn was safe , but the dreaded river killed all hopes for Goran : Giving Pierre-Luc a flush!

Goran Brestovac, 5th position – $990

Level 20 was a busy level, no less than three players were sent to the rail. First off Fady Habashi was sent home only a few minutes after the beginning of the final table.

Patrice Ravary was running out of options and pushed all-in with , and got a call from Pierre-Luc Bourgeois, who tabled . The board was swiftly revealed: . Fady was happy with that baby flush. The turn was a brick, but the on the river completed Bourgeois’s flush, and that signaled the end of the line for Patrice Ravary

The action didn’t seem to subside whatsoever, and it wasn’t long before a Nick Nickoletopoulos’s voyage was cut short by Goran Brestovac. In a classic encounter, both gentlemen tabled their hands:
Nick:
Goran: .

In one quick swipe, the dealer releaved the flop : . There was not much Nick could do at that point, but hope for the board to pair, in order to trump Goran’s boat.  The turn revealed a , and  then a came on the river, and Nick had to leave the table in 7th place.

Nick Nickoletopoulos, 7th position – $550

Patrice Ravary, 8th position – $410

Fady Habashi, 9th position – $310

As expected, the field is reducing at a brisk pace and there are now nine players left. The Tournament Director has stopped the clock to let the players get to their final seats and set up the table.

Prior to the final table, there was a short break and we went searching for the chips. Goran Brestovac is the current chip leader with 525,000 chips. He is followed closely by George Karoubali with 339,000.

After almost 17 levels of play, the 19 remaining players are now in the money.  There will be a full seating redraw prior to the final table, when 10 players remain. Expect to see the elimination rate increase and the players hit the rail more quickly now that all the players are guaranteed some prize money.

Yves Perras was happy when two players before him shoved all in. He was happy because he was sitting on pocket aces, and largely covered both players. That’s a pretty good spot to be in, especially in a bounty tournament. Both his opponents did not have many chips to speak of; Chris Arvanitis was the shortest stack with 10,300, and Robertino Uzice was sitting on 12,300. But both players had a pink $100 bounty chip, and that’s what Perras was after.

All the players tabled their hands and the stage was set.

Robertino Uzice:

Chris Arvanitis

Yves Perras

The flop came out: and it was nothing to write home about for any of the players. The on the turn changed things around and left Uzice with a huge open-ended straight draw, but killed any possibilities of a flush. The turn also meant that barring a low straight on the board, Arvanitis was now drawing dead. The river came and everyone sat back down: straight on the board = 3-way split pot!

Perras watched both players scoop back their own bounty chips and sighed. Some may tell you that every card has a certain value, but “That was a $200 deuce”, someone said.

The players took a short break and it was the perfect opportunity to explore the field. Three players have managed to gather a minimum of 150,000 chips.

Pat Ravary leads the pack with 229,000 chips; he’s joined by Christina Knot (175,000) and Maxime Macdougall (150,000). Macdougall has managed to stay with the leaders and is showing no signs of slowing down.

Late registration is closed and the tournament received a total of 145 entries. This means that the $20,000 guaranteed prize pool has been surpassed. The list of prizes has been put up on the boards, and play continues as the chimes announce the beginning of level 9.

The heat is turning up big time in the Bounty 50/50. Chips are flying, and the lucky prosper. Very early in the tournament, Wan Lung Hum was seen behind a monster stack, which set the room abuzz with talks of a chip leader.

After six levels, though, Hum is still the proud owner of a considerable stack, but he now has company. Only four players have managed to scoop up more than 100,000 chips, and just 20,000 separate the four. Maxime Macdougall is currently in the lead with 122,200 chips, approximately four times the average.

The action is heating up and the players are taking every opportunity to get their hands on the coveted $100 bounty chips.

The numbers are rising… and staying. Things are well under way in the Bounty tournament, but the eliminations are very few, and far apart. After 45 minutes of play, only 9 players have hit the rail out of 120. Bounty tournaments, especially the 50/50 ones are usually pretty aggressive, and the sharks come out to play. It will definitely be interesting to see how things evolve as the players get deeper.

Here are a few photos of the early levels.