A round-up of the action from partypoker’s MILLIONS North America event with Francois Billard winning the Main Event, and Andrew Pantling and Brian Yoon winning High Roller titles.
The second of six partypoker MILLIONS events is as dead as a spine riddled with bullets, and Francois Billard is the latest homo sapien to have his name engraved into the brand spanking new monolithic looking trophy.
The partypoker LIVE CA$10,300 MILLIONS North America Main Event enticed 521-entrants into the Playground Poker Room in Quebec, Canada, and after the hounds were done chasing down all the foxes, it was one of their own that remained in a seat.
Billard began the final table second in chips to Kevin Rabichow, and it would be those two who would have the last dance. Billard put Rabichow down to earn his third live tournament win. He won a CA$2,500 buy-in event at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) 2018 event in Fallsview for $240,271 beating 747-entrants, and his previous best score was a 3/233 finish in a €10,300 High Roller at the 2014 European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague for $504,858. He picked up $715,414 for this one; Rabichow also claimed a personal best with his $430,848 dwarfing the termite numbers he had previously racked up.
It was a cracking final table.
Paul Fontan had earned $122,870 after finishing 9/546 in the $10,000 WPT LAPC in March, and the High Roller Alexandros Kolonias arrived after finishing 12/439 in the MILLIONS South America Main Event for $60,000, but the organisers eyes fixed on their Finnish ambassador Joni Jouhkamainen, who once finished 3/1082 in the 2012 EPT Barcelona Main Event for $496,436.
Here is the final table seat draw.
Final table seat draw
Seat 1: Paul Fontan – 87,975,000 (63bb)
Seat 2: Danick Landriault – 33,150,000 (24bb)
Seat 3: Kevin Rabichow – 156,150,000 (112bb)
Seat 4: Joni Jouhkimainen – 79,050,000 (56bb)
Seat 5: Francois Billard – 126,250,000 (90bb)
Seat 6: Alexandros Kolonias – 40,550,000 (29bb)
The action (in a nutshell)
Danick Landriault eliminated in 6th place.
With blinds at 800k/1.6m/1.6m, Rabichow raised to 3.2m from under the gun, and Landriault defended the big blind. The dealer planted the all-black Qs8c5c onto the flop, and Landriault check-called a 2.4m Rabichow c-bet. The 2h arrived on the Fourth Street, Landriault checked, Rabichow moved all-in, and after using two-time extension chips, Landriault made the call. Landriault showed Ac8s for the second pair, but Rabichow had him beat with QdJc for top pair, and the 3c on the river didn’t change that fact.
Paul Fontan eliminated in 5th place.
With blinds at 1.5m/3m/3m, Billard moved all-in from the button, and Paul Fontan called from the big blind for his last remaining 20.6m and lost Qh7h versus Jc4c when Billard flopped a second jack.
Alexandros Kolonias eliminated in 4th place.
With blinds at 1.7m/3.5m/3.5m, Rabichow opened to 7m from the first position, and Kolonias made the call from the blinds. The action checked through to the turn on Tc9d4hTs, and Kolonias check-called a 5.5m Rabichow bet. The final card of Kolonias’ tournament was the Qc. The man from Greece checked, Rabichow moved all-in, and Kolonias called showing 9s6c for tens and nines, but Rabichow had him beat with AcQh for queens and tens.
Deal made
Billard began to run away with things when three-handed before the trio decided to cut a deal that ended like this:
Billard – CA$749,030 (US$556,900)
Jouhkimainen – CA$583,310 (US$433,688)
Rabichow – CA$578,310 (US$429,970)
CA$212,370 (US$157,896) left in the middle.
Three-handed play
Rabichow doubled through Billard when pocket nines outran ace-king to give him the chip lead and send Billard down to the basement. Billard then climbed back into the lead and took a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up after eliminating Jouhkimainen.
With blinds at 2.5m/5m/5m, Jouhkimainen moved all-in for 69m holding Qc6c, and Billard called with AdJc. The board missed both players, meaning ace-high was the best hand, and the Finn was out.
Heads-up
Billard: 378,500,000
Rabichow: 142,500,000
Rabichow doubled once when As7s beat KcJs and chipped away to get the stacks close to even, but he never took the chip lead from Billard. The final hand came with blinds at 3m/6m/6m, when Rabichow opened to 12m on the button, Billard three-bet to 42m, and Rabichow called.
Flop: Kd9c8s
Billard bet 26m, and Rabichow made the call.
Turn: Th
Billard moved all-in, a move that put Rabichow’s tournament life at risk, and he called showing JhTd for a pair of tens, but Billard held Ts9d for a superior two-pair hand. Rabichow had outs, but the 6d wasn’t one of them, and it was a case of ‘Taxi for Rabichow.’
Final table results
1. Francois Billard – $715,414*
2. Kevin Rabichow – $430,848*
3. Joni Jouhkimainen – $434,063*
4. Alexandros Kolonias – $275,331
5. Paul Fontan – $223,241
6. Danick Landriault – $186,035
*Indicates a three-handed deal.
The best of the rest
Andrew Pantling defeated Philipp Gruissem, heads-up, to win an 8-entrant CA$25,000 Super High Roller for $107,002. Danny Boyaci topped a 1,536-entrant Montreal Open for $135,631, and Brian Yoon topped a field of 102-entrants in the CA$10,300 High Roller, banking $223,036 after conquering a final table that included Anatoly Filatov (3rd) and Maria Ho (4th).
