Sam Chartier Wins PokerStars Canada Cup $10,400 High Roller for $122K
The highest-priced event at the PokerStars Canada Cup at Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, Quebec came to a close Thursday with Samuel Chartier earning $122,050 for topping the 34-player field.
The $10,400 High Roller began on Tuesday and finished up on Thursday, less than two hours after action resumed between the final three players on Day 3.
David ��MissOracle�� Yan from Auckland, New Zealand was the only non-Canadian to survive to Day 3, and he was the first to leave the table and head for the cashier. He began the final day with the middle stack between chip-leading Samuel Chartier and short-stacked Ami Alibay.
Yan exited the tournament in a hand that began unremarkably. He raised preflop on the button and was called by Alibay in the big blind. The 2?3?5? flop was checked around, as was the 4? on the turn. The A? on the river put a straight on the board. Alibay, with a larger stack than Yan, pushed all his chips in the middle. Yan knew he had to call with the hope of chopping the pot, but Alibay showed Q?6? for a better straight. Yan��s third-place finish earned him $49,470.
With Yan��s departure, the two Montreal-based players were heads-up for the trophy. The one-on-one battle began with the blinds at 4K/8K and a 1K ante, and Alibay had a slim lead with 529K chips to Chartier��s 491K.
Chartier dominated the action during heads-up play. He turned his slight chip deficit into a huge lead with about 80% of the chips in play. The final hand came when Alibay raised his button and Chartier pushed his stack into the middle. Alibay made a quick call and flipped over a respectable A?9?, but Chartier was miles ahead with A?Q?, a 70 percent favorite according to the PokerNews Poker Odds Calculator.
Both players made a pair on the 9?8?Q? flop, and they both made two pair on the A? turn. Only two nines remained in the deck to help out Alibay, but the river brought the 3? and every chip in the tournament was pushed Chartier��s way. Alibay��s runner-up finish earned him $79,150, and Chartier��s win gave him a $122,050 payday.
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samuel Chartier | $122,050 |
| 2 | Ami Alibay | $79,150 |
| 3 | [Removed:17] | $49,470 |
| 4 | Jonathan Duhamel | $34,620 |
| 5 | Kevin MacDonald | $24,730 |
| 6 | Timothy Adams | $19,780 |
Chartier is a local pro that now has a little under $1.8 million in live earnings, according to his Hendon Mob profile. His best result so far is his first-place finish in a $5,150 WSOP Circuit event in Atlantic City back in 2009 which earned him $322,944. He has had plenty of other deep finishes in a whole slew of different countries in the years since then, and Playground Poker Club has been kind to him in recent history as well. We saw him deep in the WPT Canadian Spring Championship Main Event earlier this year, and he also had a good result in the Full Tilt Poker Montreal Festival Main Event last Fall.
With this new boost to the bankroll, Chartier may be one to watch at WSOP in Las Vegas in the coming weeks. This could be his time for a bracelet.
While the final three played out the end of the High Roller, the poker room at Playground was also bustling with activity for Day 1a �C the first of three starting flights �C of the $2 million guaranteed $3,300 Main Event as it kicked off. Check in with PokerNews for recaps of the action on each day.
Photo and hand information courtesy of the Playground Poker Club Blog.
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