LIVE EVENTS

The leader of the Closer is now Weldon Ward. He has close to two million chips, and is well positioned to make the final table.

While Jason James’ stack had dwindled over the course of the last hour or so, with 400,000 chips he was still plenty dangerous. “Take a picture of me when my heart breaks,” he said, a big smile on his face. He had just been called on his preflop shove, with his pocket queens facing off against his opponent’s sixes.

He may have been joking at the time, but little did he know, he was dead on: it was heartbreak time.

The hand had started out with an 80,000 chip bet from Weldon Ward in late position. Jason shoved over top for his remaining stack. At first it looked less like a way to double up than as a way to protect his big blind which, now at 40,000, was not an insignificant sum. But Jason had queens, and he was way ahead.

Unfortunately, as if he had known what was coming, the board came down in the exact worst way, making his opponent’s set of sixes on the river. Jason was a good sport though, laughing it off. Weldon catapulted into the chip lead with that score, and Jason’s 26th place finish netted him $2,000. Better luck next time!

Play continues…

After six and a half hours of play on the final day of the Closer, we’re down to just 30 players. Congratulations to the players listed below for their excellent play throughout the tournament. Each earned $1,800 for their efforts. Well done!

Below are the finishing positions and payouts of the latest batch of players to take their leave of the $300 + $30 Closer. Congratulations on a great tournament, and good luck to those still at the tables.

After eight levels and four hours of play, the $300 + $30 Closer has been reduced to its final 46 players. There are several players that have accumulated a huge pile of chips, but there can only be one leader. At this point, it is Abram Logasy. Well done! And while it’s much too early to predict a final table, the longer we go, the more likely it is that those at the top of the leaderboard will be the ones that last to the end.

Play continues…

The Closer is slowing closing, and over the last hour we said goodbye to more than 30 people, reducing the crowd to just 48 active players at the moment. Below are the names of those top 50 finishers and their respective prizes.

As we make our way down to the final fifty players in the $300 + $30 Closer, the action is heating up and the chip stacks are concentrating in front of fewer and fewer people. Below are some photos of the players still in the hunt after 22 levels.

Anyone who qualified for Day 2 of the $300 + $30 Closer via Day 1D will remember the chip leader of that flight, Tyler James. His boisterous demeanor and aggressive play put him way out front by the end of the evening, testing the skill of his opponents, usually raising their blood pressure in the process.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be for Tyler in this event, even though he started the day with a huge amount of chips. He made a graceful exit just now after losing in a three-way all in to a player with pocket aces, his king-queen not enough. His 72nd place finish earns him a cool $1,000. A list of the other $1,000 winners is below.

Play continues…

As the price of the blinds rises (now up to 6,000/12,000), the number of players inevitably falls.

One such elimination occurred just now on table 30, where Justin Andeel (pictured below) took out Michel Gariepy. When we arrived at the table, the board had already been dealt and Michel had paused to think. As soon as he said “All in” Justin immediately called, showing his flush, having made it on the turn. Michel’s set couldn’t compete, and he left to collect his $900 in winnings, finishing in 73rd place.

Some other players who also finished with a $900 prize are listed below:

As we begin level 19 of the $300 + $30 Closer, players have just returned from their first break of the day and we remain hovering just above the 100-player mark, at 110. While the competitors were away from the tables we did a quick count and found that the chip leader is none other than Jacques Briere, holding 944,000 chips. There are several competitors close behind, and as luck would have it, three of the top six players are all sitting at the same table.

Below are some photos of our remaining players, as well as the chip count (below the photos) showing our current chip leaders..

We were hand for hand on Day 2 of the $300 + $30 Closer for only a short time, no more than 20 minutes. As was bound to happen with 152 players vying for 151 cash prizes spread over twenty 8-handed tables, it didn’t take long for the bubble to burst.

But first, for the almost bubble hand. Vincent Tringle shoved on table 22 and found himself in an unenviable position, with his coming up against Christine Do’s . It looked like his night was over, but it was not the case, as the board paired and the players chopped it up. Vince’s lucky day!

Only a few minutes later, the bubble finally did burst just one table over, on table 21. It was Mike Leah’s turn to feel the pressure, as we faced off against Etienne Dufresne.

This wasn’t Mike’s night, unfortunately. Although he was able to get all his chips in with , he ran into an absolute monster, Etienne’s . The board came down , and Mike had to take his leave just outside of the money.

Play continues!

After only two levels (levels 15 and 16) we have already lost 60 players. Here are some shots of our remaining players in the early goings.