Jean-Pascal Savard Keeps partypoker MILLION Title in Canada

The biggest event in Canadian poker history returned for the final table yesterday and while there were a few household names that made the final eight, Jean-Pascal Savard outlasted them all to become the latest partypoker LIVE champion. The partypoker MILLION North America Main Event drew 1,168 players and that field blew past the event’s original CAD$5,000,000 guarantee.

A lion’s share of that prize pool was up for grabs at the final table, which included a few players with serious major tournament experience. Jet-setter Ari Engel, who has tournament wins from around the world, including a 2016 Aussie Millions Main Event victory, came into the final table with the chip lead. WSOP bracelet winner Matthew Waxman and WPT Champions Cup member Niall Farrell were also at the final table but those three were some of the first players eliminated.

Canadian Rayan Chamas was the first player eliminated from the final table and after three hours of tactical play, he fell in 8^th place. Matthew Waxman likely would have done better than 7^th, had he been able to win a critical all-in against final table short stack Louis Boutin, but his queens were beat by ace-jack and he was sent out shortly after Chamas.

Niall Farrell eliminated Waxman but he was then the next to go, as he was bounced by the eventual champion to fall in 6^th. Final table chip leader Ari Engel spent the first few hours of Day 5 trending in the wrong direction and even though he made a pay jump after outlasting Farrell, he fell short of the ultimate goal and was eliminated in 5^th place.

The final four players all call Quebec, Canada home but with CAD$1,000,000 awaiting the eventual champion, friendships were put on hold for the time being. Final table short stack Louis Boutin, who cracked Waxman’s queens, managed to spin up his stack but couldn’t get to the podium. He fell in 4^th place and shortly after, Philippe D’Auteuil was out in 3^rd.

There was a small deal made heads up and while it was guaranteed that a Canadian would claim the title, it was just a matter of which Canadian. Jean-Pascal Savard answered that call, defeating Jonathan Bussieres heads-up for the . The win is the first of Savard’s career and the result is his best finish since an over $500,000 result from the 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. A complete list of the final table results, in CAD$, can be found below:

1. Jean-Pascal Savard – $956,000
2. Jonathan Bussieres – $693,950
3. Philippe D’Auteuil – $450,000
4. Louis Boutin – $335,000
5. Ari Engel – $238,500
6. Naill Farrell – $160,000
7. Matthew Waxman – $110,000
8. Rayan Chamas – $80,000

The next partypoker MILLION event will run in Germany and will boats a €1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool. More information on future partypokerLIVE events can be found on their website and a complete recap of the partypoker Million North America Main Event can be found here.