After a total of five days of play which involved a tough 6-man final table action that transpired for 14 hours, a winner has finally emerged, and it was Canadian poker player Francois Billard.
2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America Main Event
- CAD$10,300 buy-in, $5M guaranteed
- Dates: May 13 to 26, 2019
- Venue: Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Canada
The 2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America CAD$10,300 NLHE Main Event had a total of 521 players signed up, thereby exceeding the CAD$5 million guarantee by over CAD$200,000.
The man from Montreal scooped up CAD$961,400 (or USD $715,414), currently his biggest live tournament win in his poker journey. His total live earnings are now $2,908,348 according to The Hendon mob.
The fifth and last day of the event commenced with only 6 players left, with Kevin Rabichow in the chip lead with more than 110 blinds, while Billard had the second biggest stack at 90 big blinds.
Rabichow sent Danick Landriault to the rail so he settled at 6th place for USD$186,035.
The remaining five players battled it out for 140 hands in about 6 hours. The second knockout came from Billard, who sent Fontan into 5th place for USD$223,241.
A few hands later into three-handed play, Billard was leading with over half the chips in his possession. Following a dinner break, the three pros struck a deal to split most of the remaining prize money, leaving approximately CAD$212,370 (USD$158,000) in play for the top winner.
Jouhkimainen had to settle for third place when his Q-6 was bested by Billard’s A-J.
The final two-man showdown was between Kevin Rabichow and Francois Billard, with the latter having a chip advantage of 2.5-to-1. They did their best to outwit each other for 37 hands until the final hand came up.
Rabichow had J-10
Billard got 10-9
The board ran K-9-8-10-6, making Billard the last man standing for this event.
Billard believed he won thanks to his aggressive play during the final table. He said, “Maybe I pushed the action a little too much at times, so I don’t know if it was the right strategy, but it worked out in the end.”
Final Table Results
|
|
Player
|
Country
|
Prize (CAD)
|
Prize (USD)
|
|
1
|
Francois Billard
|
Canada
|
$961,400*
|
$715,414*
|
|
2
|
Kevin Rabichow
|
USA
|
$578,990*
|
$430,848*
|
|
3
|
Joni Jouhkimainen
|
Finland
|
$583,310*
|
$434,063*
|
|
4
|
Alexandros Kolonias
|
Greece
|
$370,000
|
$275,331
|
|
5
|
Paul Fontan
|
Spain
|
$300,000
|
$223,241
|
|
6
|
Danick Landriault
|
Canada
|
$250,000
|
$186,035
|
|
7
|
Ben Heath
|
UK
|
$200,000
|
$148,828
|
|
8
|
Ruben Perceval
|
Canada
|
$150,000
|
$111,621
|
|
9
|
Armin Rezaei
|
Austria
|
$100,000
|
$74,414
|
*a three-way deal was made
Watch the final hand below:
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How they dont get bored with it, playing whatever 
