Event 7, a $300 + $30 PL Omaha 8-max Re-entry tournament attracted 70 entries, 14 of which came from re-entries. It was a fun tournament, played lightly but seriously, with regular local PLO cash players mingling with travellers and Leaderboard Challenge point hunters.

Jason Esmail, our first chip leader in the Event, managed to make the final table after a roller coaster ride, but most early leaders could not make it. François Goulet started to seriously chip up when 2 tables were left, and he appears on the money list.

When the blinds reached 20K/40K, players felt like it was time to settle, the chip leader having 11 blinds in his stack. So they did, and left 2% of the prize pool up top, as is the rule for Trophy Events. When that was done, it only took 6 or 7 hands before the whole thing was decided. Jason Ismail was the first to go, followed by François Goulet. Steven Mavrigiannakis left in 3rd, and Steven Cheung lost the first hand of the heads-up match, covered a few times by Maxime Laberge.

Laberge was quite happy to earn himself a trophy and some valuable points towards the Leaderboard Challenge, which he told us he would definitely work hard for, especially since he got a seat in an online satellite for the $2,000 + $200 Canadian Poker Championships. We will be monitoring his advancement in the Challenge.

Congratulations Maxime, and good luck!

Event 7 Champion: Maxime Laberge – $4,450 and the Champion’s Trophy

Runner-up: Steven Cheung – $3,090

Last hand of play:

 

The last few rounds, as expected, have seen a lot of chip movement. Steven Cheung is now the short stack with about 200K and everybody else has between 325 and 425K.

Players have now agreed to an ICM chop, realizing that the new blind level (20K/40K) leaves little room for tournament PLO strategy. They left $400 for the eventual winner (the minimal required amount for that Event), who will also take home the Champion’s Trophy. Things are expected to move very fast from here.

Here are the secured prizes:

First Name | Prénom	Last Name | Nom	Prize | Prix
Steven	Cheung	$3,090.00
Maxime	Laberge	$4,050.00
François	Goulet	$4,105.00
Steven	Mavrigiannakis	$3,590.00
Jason	Esmail	$3,635.00

 

Andy D’Alessandro, after paying his small blind, was left with just 55K on the button. When everybody else folded, he committed those chips and found a call from François Goulet.

Andy D’Alessandro:
François Goulet:

Board:

Goulet spiked an ace on the flop, which was enough to send D’Alessandro home, but not without a cool $1,000 for his nice run. Well done Andy!