LIVE EVENTS

Joni Jouhkimainen had a bit of a rough time playing 3-way after the chop. He fought hard against the two bigger stacks, but in the end fell when his pre-flop all-in was called by François Billard in the big blind.

Jouhkimainen:
Billard:

Board:

Billard faded a lot of cards on the river, and shows up to the duel with a pretty good lead:

• François Billard – 378,500,000
• Kevin Rabichow – 142,500,000

Let the duel begin! The 2 finalists are now playing head to head for $212K and the trophy!

One more level has gone by; players are taking another break. Our 3 finalists display tremendous patience, and every pot is hardly fought, in terms of analysis. Even after 12 hours of play, they are still taking their time, crunching numbers, eye-balling each other. True professionals.

Levels have now been reduced to one hour in length.

Update:

Since play resumed after the rearrangement of the prizes, Kevin Raduchow, after losing a bit of chips, managed to double against François Billard. Billard, however, came back strong and bought a few pots to bring him back to about 220M. In one hand, for example, he was seen check raising the river on a board from 12M to 44M after the turned was checked by both.

Joni Jouhkimainen is having a tough time keeping up with the larger stacks. He now sits with about 110M, while Raduchow works with 200M.

When our 3 finalists came back from their 40-minute break, they started feeling each other’s interest in discussing a rearrangement of the prizes. The discussions were quite lengthy, understandably. After all, these are pretty substantial amounts. Here are the allotted prize:

This leaves $212,370 up top for the winner of what has turned into a winner-take-all event. And of course, the eventual winner will go home with the amazing MILLIONS trophy and the solid bragging rights that come with it. Play resumes now!

An unscheduled dinner break was granted to our 3 finalists. After playing for 9 hours straight, their request was not far-fetched, and the tournament staff gladly gave them a 40-minute break. In the meantime, your can watch some highlights on the Stream, which will come back live at 10:20PM. Tune in for the conclusion of the MILLIONS North America Main Event; see if François Billard keeps losing his races and magically holding his stack above the others! Here’s a look at his lovely rail:

The tournament are taking the opportunity to race off the 100K chips. Here are the updated counts:

After a patch of small ball poker, Alexandros Kolonias lost his remaining chips to Kevin Rabichow. This was a blind-versus-blind battle where Kolonias flopped the best hand with (flop: ). Rabichow, however, was able to stick around until the end and paired his queen on the river.

Alexandros Kolonias hails from Greece. His play on the final table was solid; he was able to stick around for a long time despite not much love from the deck, and as a result he goes home with $370,000, which he can add to the $2,192,867 in earnings accumulated through the years. Great job!

François Billard keeps at it and puts maximum pressure on his opponent. In one of those occasions, he got got with his hand in the cookie jar when the second in chips at the time, Kevin Rabichow, woke up with a premium in the small blind.

Billard:
Rabichow:

The flop came with no help for Billard, and he was drawing dead on the turn. He lost 95.5M on that hand, and with them the chip lead. Shortly after, Billard called a small blind shove from the big blind and got outdrawn:

Joni Jouhkimainen:
François Billard:

Board:

Here are the resulting counts:

After many hours without an elimination during which many all-ins were won by the the shorter stacks, Castrillon Fontan made his exit after a fall in two acts. He first double Kevin Rabichow when his failed to hit a pair against . He was left with under 10 big blinds, which went in when Billard pushed a pile of 5M chips, as he so often does.

Billard:
Fontan:

Board:

Billard, after losing so many showdowns, finally took one for himself. Fontan leaves with 300K. Excellent run!

François Billard took a break from putting the short stacks on his left all-in, and min-raised to 6M from the cutoff. Action folded to Kevin Rabichow in the big blind, who went all-in. Billard called instantly, confident that his pair was strong. It wasn’t so.

Billard:
Rabichow:

Board:

The flop sealed the deal. Rabichow doubled his 20.6M

François Billard, as he so often does, strong from a massive lead, announced all-in from the button in an unopened pot. Alexandros Kolonias called from the small blind, and before long, Castrillon Fontan was also fully invested.

Billard:
Kolonias:
Fontan:

Board:

Once again, the river came with a bang. Billard had to pay both players, while Kolonias’ riverboat tripled him up. This was the last hand before the break. Play will resume with blinds at 1.5M/3M/3M. Here are the updated counts:

Castrillon Fontan and Joni Jouhkimainen both doubled their belongings, and both did it at the expense of François Billard. That being said, Billard picks up so many pots that he barely felt those 2 hits.

After Billard made it 5M to go, Fontan shoved 19.8M. Billard snapped.

Billard:
Fontan:

Board:

Some 10 minutes later, it was Alexandros Kolonias’s turn to feed off the man in charge. From the small blind, Billard opened to 5.5M. Kolonias went all-in, got called, and both players went to showdown.

Billard:
Kolonias:

Board:

Billard lost about 50M across these 2 hands, but when a player pick up so many pots, it is much easier to handle the showdown swings.