Henri Balcazar Wins 2013 FTP Montreal Main Event

Henri Balcazar has won the Full Tilt Poker Montreal Main Event, after besting a field of 1,625 players over five days on his way to lifting the title, and collecting the $194,044 first-place-prize.
The total number of players entering the $1,100 buy-in tournament shattered the previous record of 1,173 and helped create an impressive prize pool worth more than $1.5 million. The competition also attracted some of the biggest names in the game, including the likes of Gus Hansen, Tom Dwan, Antonio Esfandiari, Gavin Smith, Martins Adeniya, Dermot Blain, and Victor Ramdin.
However, by the time the final table of nine had been reached, just Vineet Pahuja remained as the biggest name still in contention, although he was well placed as the chip leader. Unfortunately for Pahuja, though, his stack took a massive hit after his two pair hand was beaten by Mike Linster’s straight and not long after Pahuja, too, was dispatched to the rail in 6th ($58,006) by eventual winner Henri Balcazar.
The tournament subsequently played down to just three players, when a deal was struck whereby Michael Linster would receive $200,000, and both Eric Despres and Henri Balcazar $150,000 a piece, with a further $44,046 and the title going to the eventual winner.
As play resumed, Henri Balcazar then dropped to just 10bb before being dealt pocket fives and winning a race against Linster’s A-J. The same hand of A-J also proved Linster’s undoing with Henri Balcazar’s pocket eights good enough to eliminate his opponent in 3rd, to go heads-up against Eric Despres.
As the final battle commenced, Balcazar had a 3 to 1 chip lead over Despres and on the third hand of heads-up both players found themeselves all-in on a 10d-4d-3h flop with Balcazar’s 5d-3d up against the pocket kings of his opponent. The turn and river subsequently produced a 2s and Jd to consign Eric Despres to a runner-up finish, while Balcazar was crowned the 2013 Full Tilt Poker Montreal champion.
After his remarkable victory, Balcazar then turned to his mother and told her; “I’m going to by you a new car.”
Full Tilt Poker Montreal Main Event Final Result:
1 Henri Balcazar $194,046*
2 Eric Despres $150,000*
3 Mike Linster $200,000*
4 Guillaume Rivet $96,151
5 Bill Kontaratos $74,714
6 Vinny Pahuja $58,006
7 Roger Lamia $44,923
8 Zeng Yi Xie $35,150
9 Colin Peche $27,269