Taylor Black Wins Canada’s Biggest Ever Poker Tournament for US$1.09M

The partypoker MILLIONS tournament series continues to draw in huge crowds, attracted by its large guaranteed prize pools, and the great locations where it is held around the world.

Needless to say, partypoker doesn’t do things by halves, and their latest stop was no exception, with the partypoker Million North America offering a guaranteed CAD $15 million throughout its six event schedule, making it the biggest guaranteed prize pool in Canadian poker history.

$5,300 Main Event

Headlining the tour held at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal , however, was its $5,300 buy-in Main Event, which kicked-off on April 21st, and offered a massive guaranteed CAD $10 million, including a guaranteed CAD $1 million for its ultimate winner. Following more than a week of action, the tournament was eventually won by US pro Taylor Black for C$1.4 million (US$1,093,425), representing more than half of his $2,074,949 in career earnings, after which he commented:

“It feels great, it’s hard to describe. You play a million tournaments and to actually win one is really awesome.”

Notable Cashes

The biggest field in Canadian poker history took part in the partypoker MILLIONS $5,300 Main Event, with 1,954 players entering to create a prize pool of CAD $9.7 million, which was just CAD $300k below its initial guarantee. There were then five starting Day 1s, and two Day 2s before the field combined for a collective Day 3.

Amongst the recognizable players cashing in at one of its 251 money places, and there were plenty of them, but ultimately falling short of a final table appearance was Antonio Esfandiari in 46th (C$17,500), Brian Hastings in 43rd (C$20,000), Marvin Rettenmaier in 36th (C$25,000), Manig Loeser in 33rd (C$25,000), Marc-Andre Ladouceur in 20th (C$35,000), Will Failla in 17th (C$50,000) and Joseph Cheong in 11th (C$85,000).

Final Table

When the final table of nine got underway, there were three major pros headlining the table, all of whom were from the US, including Taylor Black (406m), who was second in chips to Anthony Ruberto (409m), with Darryll Fish lying in 6th place on a 152.9m stack.

Ruberto (J-J) then took care of Guillaume Nolet (8-6) in 9th, while Taylor Black eliminated Tommy Nguyen (8th), Demo Kiriopoulos (6th) and Ruberto (3rd) to reach the heads-up stage against Darryll Fish for the title.

Heads-Up

At the start of heads-up, Black held a more than 3.5 to 1 chip lead over his remaining opponent, but Fish battled hard and at one point almost evened up the stacks. Nevertheless, Black managed to wrestle back control of the game and by the time the final hand arose was sitting on a 4 to 1 chip advantage.

In the hand in question, Fish (Qs-9s) raised from the button, inducing a 3-bet from Black (As-Ah). Black then led out on a 9d-6h-4h flop, with Fish moving all-in holding top pair, only to be snapped call by Black with his over pair. The dealer subsequently delivered a 6s and Qh on turn and river to make both players two pair, but unfortunately for Fish his was second best.

Darryll Fish still received a whopping CAD $1.2 million (US$937,221) for his incredible performance, and also collected 1,800 POY points, elevating him to number four on the 2018 POY Leader Boards, while the champion Taylor Black collected the top prize and 2,160 POY points, placing him at number 14 on the list. Currently topping the Leader Board is the UK’s Stephen Chidwick (4,815), followed by the USA’s Justin Bonomo (4,047), and then another UK player Toby Lewis on 3,780 points.

Final Table Payouts (US$)

1: Taylor Black $1,092,000
2: Darryll Fish $936,000
3: Anthony Ruberto $780,000
4: Markus Prinz $624,000
5: C. La Boissonniere $468,000
6: Demo Kiriopoulous $312,000
7: George Lagos $235,950
8: Tommy Nguyen $167,700
9: Guillaume Nolet $117,000