Taylor Black Wins partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America Main Event

May 03, 2018

The final day of the partypoker MILLIONS North America in Montreal, Canada has seen the $5,300 Main Event come to an end. Taylor Black from Santa Cruz, California has claimed victory on his first MILLIONS trophy and captured CAD1,400,000 in the process. Black defeated well-known poker pro Darryll Fish in a heads-up battle that lasted over two hours.

"I don't really have plans for [the money] yet. I'm not sure; I'm kind of shell-shocked."

Not only is this Black's largest cash of his poker career, but it more than doubles his career earnings. The American came into the tournament with just shy of a $1 million in live tournament winnings with his biggest cash coming last summer at the WSOP. Black made his way through another large field in the $565 Colossus III but just fell short, finishing second for $545,430.

When asked how he felt after winning the tournament, Black was at a loss for words. "It feels great; it's hard to describe. You play a million tournaments and to actually win one is really awesome." Black will have plenty of time to decide what to do with this massive payday. "I don't really have plans for [the money] yet. I'm not sure; I'm kind of shell-shocked."

As for his worthy opponent, Darryll Fish, this also marks his largest payday in any single tournament of his career. Fish was the most recognizable name on the final table but was forced to grind out a short stack for the majority of the day. The biggest score of his career will add to Fish's resume that is already over $3.5 million in career earnings.

^{* Prize in USD via XE.com}

The action got underway on Day 5 with nine players remaining, and surprisingly it was Guillaume Nolet who wound up busting on the final table bubble. Nolet ran into a couple of cooler hands and even correctly laid down pocket kings at one point, but eventually ran out of chips when he got it in for his last ten big blinds with eight-six against the pocket jacks of chip leader Anthony Ruberto.

From there, it became the Taylor Black show, who relentlessly took advantage of the shorter stacks at the table that were looking for pay jumps. Black continued to raise with any two cards in any position; building up a healthy chip lead. Ruberto made sure to not fall too far behind and appeared to be the only player willing to tangle with Black in some key pots.

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

Still, the casualties started to fall, and the first was Tommy Nguyen who tried to make a hero call on the river. Unfortunately for him, Black tabled the goods and Nguyen was the first to be eliminated on the final table.

After a couple double ups from the short stacks, George Lagos was left in a position where he had to be the one to make a move. He shoved all in with suited connectors but was looked up by the pocket nines of Ruberto. Although Lagos made a flush on the turn, Ruberto made a bigger flush on the river to eliminate Lagos in seventh place.

Demosthenes Kiriopoulos came into the day as one of the shorter stacks and was just unable to pick up any hands when he needed to. Kiriopoulos was fortunate enough to ladder his way up to sixth place but eventually succumbed to the big stack of Black.

It took nearly two hours for the next bust out to occur. Charles La Boissonniere was just starting to hit his stride in the tournament, but his flopped two pair was counterfeited by Fish's rivered higher two pair. That left La Boissonniere with around 15 big blinds, and he got all of them in the middle with the next ace he picked up. Ruberto found another premium hand with pocket tens and made the easy call. La Boissonniere was unable to connect with the board and busted in fifth place.

Just two hands later, Markus Prinz ran into the same situation when he picked up an ace in the small blind, but Fish held pocket jacks in the big blind. Prinz couldn't pair his ace which meant the final three players were all guaranteed to walk away with at least CAD1,000,000.

The final three players took an extended break before the action resumed and the play-style had noticeably changed. After a few beverages, the action was a lot looser, and none of the players were afraid to spice up the action. Anthony Ruberto made it clear he was happy with a seven-figure score and tried to run a big bluff against the chip leader. However, Black had flopped top set and wasn't going anywhere, placing the trap perfectly for Ruberto to fall into. Just 20 minutes into three-handed play, Ruberto hit the rail, and the final two players were left to battle for the trophy.

It took over two hours of heads-up play to finally decide a winner that saw Darryll Fish's comeback fall just short. When the final two players took their seats for the last time across the table from one another, Black held a three-to-one chip lead that looked like a mountain for Fish to climb. However, Fish did his best to close the gap and even took the lead for a few hands. The hand that everyone was left talking about saw Black make a huge river bluff to retake the chip lead. Fish bet the river with just ace-high and Black check-raised all in with king-high, forcing Fish to fold with 17 big blinds left in front of him. Just a few hands later, Fish ran his top pair on the flop into the pocket aces of Black. Both players made two pair by the river, but it was Black's that was the stronger of the two, securing him the win and ending the match.

Live Reporter

• Tags

  Taylor Black Darryll Fish Anthony Ruberto Markus Prinz Charles La Boissonniere Demosthenes Kiriopoulos George Lagos Tommy Nguyen partypoker Guillaume Nolet

• Related Players

  Darryll FishAnthony RubertoCharles La BoissonniereTaylor BlackTommy NguyenDemosthenes Kiriopoulos