The Final Day of the partypoker MILLION North America Main Event is on Deck!
The final day of the partypoker MILLION North America Main Event is here! Canada's biggest live poker prizepool event has come together in beautiful Montreal, Canada at the ever-popular Playground Poker Club. Just eight players remain, with play kicking off at noon local time, and coverage beginning at 12:30 p.m. once the live stream delay kicks in.
This CA$5,300 Main Event with a CA$5,000,000 guarantee began online with Phase 1 satellites and grew into the live arena with more satellites. Eventually, the tournament began, and built up to 1,168 entries and a total prizepool of CA$5,709,950, setting the record for the biggest prizepool the country has ever seen in a live tournament. The winner is guaranteed CA$1,000,000 and it's time to find out who is going home with all of that Canadian bacon.
The biggest event in the country's history wouldn't be the same if it weren't led by the best player in it, Ari Engel. He leads with 252,500,000 chips and the support of the entire country behind him. Engel is the top player in Canada and 13th in the world according to the GPI standings. In Canada's rankings, he sits above high roller Sam Greenwood, who also made Day 4 but was unable to survive the day after losing a massive 50-million chip pot to Philippe D'Auteuil in one of the final hands of the night on Day 3, after being forced to fold to a shove on the turn.
Here is a look at the final eight players:
| Seat | Player Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ari Engel | 252,500,000 |
| 2 | Jonathan Bussieres | 108,700,000 |
| 3 | Rayan Chamas | 168,400,000 |
| 4 | Philippe D'Auteuil | 142,500,000 |
| 5 | Louis Boutin | 43,900,000 |
| 6 | Niall Farrell | 69,200,000 |
| 7 | Matthew Waxman | 115,300,000 |
| 8 | Jean-Pascal Savard | 243,100,000 |
Second in chips is Quebec's own Jean-Pascal Savard with 243,100,000 chips, and he was also responsible for eliminating Patrick Blye in 9th place (CA$60,000) last night in a massive cooler. Blye was already short, and had made a big fold a couple of hands prior to that when he correctly tossed queens away and would have been up against kings. He held pocket tens on a board reading 
, but Savard held ace-king and he found out his fate on the river.
Rounding out the top three in chips is Rayan Chamas, hailing from Lebanon. His biggest cash was for CA$91,000 right here in Montreal, and he looks to be on his way to breaking that record after just a few eliminations at this final table, should he hang on to his stack.
Play begins with just seven minutes and change left in level 32, after which time blinds will increase to 90 minutes on this final day. A winner will be crowned today, it's just a matter of what time that will be.
To avoid spoilers, PokerNews will be providing coverage from the live stream on the 30-minute delay. A link to the stream can be found under the Live Stream tab above via Twitch.
Good luck to everyone!
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
252,500,000 | |
|
243,100,000 | |
|
168,400,000 | |
|
142,500,000 | |
|
115,300,000 | |
|
108,700,000 | |
|
69,200,000 | |
|
43,900,000 |