The final table of the 2014 World Poker Tour (WPT) Canadian Spring Championship wrapped up Tuesday and to the great thrill of the crowd in attendance, Quebec local Jason Comtois won the $160,999 first prize.
Comtois began final table play as the second shortest stack with 4,700,000 chips, though that said, he was not at all in bad shape. The top stack belonged to Daniel Gagne, who had 8,000,000 chips, so Comtois was certainly within striking distance. Comtois fell back right away losing a sizeable pot on the second hand of a day, but two hands later, he doubled-up through Mario Lim to get up to 5,700,000 chips.
It was Lim who was the first to go down at the final table. With just 2,200,000 chips left, he went all-in pre-flop on Hand 21 after a raise from Johnny Mazzaferro. Lim was in trouble with K♣-3♣, up against Mazzaferro’s A♥-J♣. The flop gave Lim a flush sweat, but that was the extent of it, as he was eliminated in sixth place.
It took a long time for the next knockout, but if finally happened on Hand 76. Alexander Wong raised pre-flop to 650,000 and Gagne called. The flop was K-8-5 and Wong bet 550,000. Gagne took that opportunity to re-raise to 1,200,000 and Wong decided to shove for 4,975,000. And Wong was in trouble, holding just pocket 6’s against Gagne’s K-8. Wong was unable to make his set and had to settle for a fifth place finish. That put Gagne in firm control of the contest, as his 14,425,000 chips was almost as much as the other three remaining players combined.
Just a couple hands later, though, Comtois looked to make Gagne’s tourney a bit more difficult, as he doubled through Mazzaferro to grow his own stack to 9,800,000. On the next hand, he won about 2,500,000 from Gagne to take the chip lead, 12,750,000 to Gagne’s 12,275,000.
Mazzaferro, unfortunately, was crippled at that point and was forced to go all-in on Hand 81 with Q-J against Comtois’ A-Q and ended up leaving in fourth place.
It wasn’t until Hand 113 that the next elimination occurred and it was one of the more spectacular hands of the tourney. Gagne raised pre-flop to 850,000, John Paul Tabago re-raised to 2,000,000, and Gagne called. They both checked the Q-9-3 flop, but when a Jack was dealt on the turn, Tabago bet another 2,000,000. Gagne then raised to 4,000,000, Tabago went all-in, and Gagne called. Gagne had good reason to call, holding K-T for the King-high straight, while Tabago flipped over two red Nines for a set. The river card was a 3, nailing a full house for Tabago. Gagne was suddenly out of the tournament, while Tabago went into heads-up play as the chip leader with 21,450,000 chips against Comtois and his 10,525,000.
Comtois made a small run at the outset, but Tabago came back to re-establish the chip counts to about what they were when the one-on-one match started. The turning point of the match came on Hand 125 of the final table. Comtois raised pre-flop to 1,000,000 chips with A-8, only to see Tabago shove for over 20,000,000 with A-3. It took a while, but Comtois made the call and doubled-up.
Over the next few hands, Comtois extended his new lead until finally finishing off Tabago on Hand 131. The two engaged in a raising battle until Tabago was all-in pre-flop with Q-4 suited, facing a call by Comtois with A-K. A King was dealt on the flop and Tabago couldn’t find a flush, giving the pot, all the chips, and the championship to Jason Comtois
It was a wonderful time for Comtois and all of his supporters. “I’m happy to keep the WPT title in Quebec,” Comtois told WPT officials after his victory. “It was great to have such great support – I really think my friends carried me through at times.”
2014 World Poker Tour WPT Canadian Spring Championship – Final Table Results
1. Jason Comtois – $178,114
2. John Paul Tabago – $124,758
3. Daniel Gagne – $80,904
4. Johnny Mazzaferro – $59,762
5. Alexander Wong – $44,586
6. Mario Lim – $36,108
* Tournament updates courtesy wpt.com
** Photo courtesy World Poker Tour
