In a final table that stretched to the wee hours of Friday morning, Jared Mahoney came from the short stack at the start of the final table and was able to defeat poker veteran Darryll Fish to take down the partypoker.net World Poker Tour Montreal at the Playground Poker Club.
The $3500 (Canadian, roughly equal to U. S. dollar) buy in tournament started last week with three Day Ones set up for the players. Players had the option of playing each of the Day Ones or, if they felt they had a decent enough stack to push forward, sit back and wait for the second day of the event. This format resulted in a 697-entry field, by far not the best in the history of the Playground but still building a solid prize pool of $2,366,315 that would see the eventual champion take home $453,122.
WPT champion Brian Altman was at the helm of the ship when it set sail on Thursday, his 8.46 million in chips dominating everyone but Fish (5.16 million). The four remaining players – Rainer Kempe (2.955 million), A. J. Gambino (1.625 million), Carter Swidler (1.395 million) and Mahoney (1.26 million) – were all scrambling to find a double that would get them back into the tournament. Only a few hands in, someone found their “golden ticket.”
Live streamed over Twitch, on Hand 12 Swidler and Altman would see an A♦ 5♦ 3♠ 4♠ flop and turn which both players seemed to like. Swidler would three-bet all in on that board, with Altman calling off with only a K♦ J♦ for the nut flush draw. Swidler wasn’t much better, only mustering an A♣ K♣ for top pair, but it was enough as the 9♣ came on the river to give him a needed double up and bring Altman back to the pack.
Mahoney dodged a bullet in the early going when he would chop a pot with Kempe (both men held A-K on a Queen high board) and he would continue to grind off the short stack and stay relevant in the tournament. Gambino, on the other hand, had difficulty in getting anything going at the final table and would actually drop beneath Mahoney on the leaderboard. By Hand 24, Gambino’s situation brought about the next big clash.
After seeing Gambino raise from the cutoff, Fish put him to the test with a re-raise to 355K. Deciding to make his stand, Gambino moved all in for over a million chips and, after getting an exact count, Fish made the call. His Big Chick (A-Q) was behind Gambino’s pocket nines, but the Ace on the flop changed fortunes. By the time the river card hit, Fish had made a four-flush with his Queen to crush Gambino and send him off the Playground in sixth place.
Soon afterwards, Fish would take the chip lead from Altman, but it would be a short lived leadership. Over the next 30 hands, everyone but Swidler took a turn as the chip leader. The inability to garner any chips would doom Swidler to fifth place after his A-9 was cruelly run down by Altman’s J-10 on a 7-4-2-J-J board on Hand 56.
The new chips gave new life to Altman at the final table. After eliminating Swidler, Altman would win five of the next seven hands, pushing over the nine million chip mark, while the remaining players adjusted to Altman’s aggression. Altman would crack the 10 million chip mark on Hand 75 and, only six hands later, passed the 11 million chip level. A double up to Mahoney on Hand 85 would dent Altman somewhat, but it was another standoff that would decimate his stack and lead to Altman’s exit.
After Kempe min-raised from under the gun, a confident Altman reraised off the button. After the blinds got out of the way, Kempe pondered his situation for some time before pumping in a three-bet of slightly more than 1.8 million. Now it was Altman’s turn in the tank and, after sizing up the situation, he moved all in and was immediately called by Kempe.
Kempe’s pocket Queens were in a tenuous lead over Altman’s A-Q, but it got a bit more comfortable for Kempe after the K-8-2 flop. The heat returned, however, on a trey turn as it put the potential for a four-flush on the felt for Altman. When no club nor Ace was able to find its way to the river, Kempe seized a key double up and the lead while Altman sunk to “only” 4.425 million chips. The news would not get any better for Altman as he doubled up Mahoney again on Hand 95 and, five hands later, Mahoney would bounce him from the final table in fourth place.
Down to three players, Kempe was in firm command with slightly less than a 2:1 edge over Mahoney and more than a 5:1 edge over Fish. It remained this way for almost 25 hands before Mahoney found a double up through Kempe, then Mahoney would turn around and double up Fish to bring him back into the mix. Fish would use those chips to pound his way to the chip lead by Hand 150, with Mahoney and Kempe looking to catch up.
Kempe tried to get back into the fight, but it wouldn’t come through for him. After doubling through Mahoney, Kempe tried to duplicate the feat, again against Mahoney, but the outcome this time didn’t go in his favor. After the chips hit the center, Mahoney showed an A♣ 6♣ for combat against Kempe’s 9♦ 7♦ and the board would provide plenty of excitement. The 9♥ 7♣ 2♣ flop nailed both players squarely, but that all changed when a J♣ hit the turn to give Mahoney the nut flush. With only four outs to save him, Kempe instead saw a 5♣ solidify Mahoney’s flush and knock him from the tournament in third place.
Mahoney now held almost a 1.5 million chip lead over Fish, but the fight wasn’t over yet. For the next 40 hands, the duo would swap the chip lead back and forth before the final hand determined the champion. After Mahoney min-raised him, Fish pushed out an all-in bet of almost 10 million chips in what looked like an attempt to push Mahoney off the hand. Mahoney didn’t go anywhere, however, making the call and showing his Big Slick to go against Fish’s A-2. An Ace paired both players but, when neither was able to pair their kicker, Mahoney’s King played to knock off Fish and earn the title for Mahoney.
1. Jared Mahoney, 453,122
2. Darryll Fish, 304,343
3. Rainer Kempe, 195,940
4. Brian Altman, 144,780
5. Carter Swidler, 108,410
6. A. J. Gambino, 87,520
Up next for the “Main Tour” on the WPT is the partypoker WPT Prague, which will take place at the King’s Casino in the capital city of the Czech Republic beginning on December 1. The 2015 calendar year for the “Main Tour” will wrap up in Las Vegas with the WPT’s perennial visit to the Bellagio for the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic starting on December 14.
