Taylor Black wins, Canadian poker pros perform well in PPL Main Event

Taylor Black wins $1m at PPL Canada Poker Main Event.

The partypoker Millions North America wrapped up on Wednesday at the Playground Poker Club in Kahnawake, Canada. The first festival of partypoker Live Season 2 (PPL S2), the two-week festival took place from April 24 to May 2, attracting thousands of players from all over the world; most especially from Canada and the US.

The NA Main Event kicked off last weekend, nearly drawing 2k entrants. A total of 1,954 players turned out for the tournament, each doling out the $5,000+$300 buy-in to build a prize pool of CA$9.7 million. With a $10 million GTD, that resulted in a $300k overlay worth of added value for the field.

In the end, it was American poker player Taylor Black who outlasted the competition for the PPL Title and more than a million in cash. Canadian poker pros performed quite well though, making up half of the final table, and more than half of the overall winners.

Taylor Black Takes NA Canada PPL Poker Title

American Taylor Black, a young poker pro who’s been making his presence known at major events since 2013, nearly doubled his career earnings with this week’s PPL main event win. Collecting CA$1.4 million (US$1,093,425) brings the young American’s live earnings total to just over US$2.07 million. That impressive bankroll includes last year’s 2nd place finish in the WSOP Colossus III for US$545k.

Black didn’t have any easy time of it. Despite being well ahead in the chip count (1,590,000,000 to 350,000,000) over fellow American Daryll Fish, their heads-up battle lasted more than 2 hours. On the final hand, Fish pushed all-in following a 9♦ 6♥ 4♥ flop. Black instantly called, tabling A♠ A♦ to Fish’s Q♠ 9♠. The 6♠ turn was no help, and the Q♥ river came too late. Black had the higher pair, and it was all over.

Daryll Fish collected an impressive CA$1.2 million for the runner-up finish.

Canadian Poker Pros Dominate Final Day

When the final day opened, there were nine players remaining, 5 of Canadian descent. Guillaume Nolet of Montreal fell first, bringing up a final table that was half-full of Canadian players. Unfortunately, they were the first to go, leaving a single German and trio of Americans to finish out the final four.

Tommy Nguyen of Mississauga, ON fell in 8th place ($215k) when his all-in push ran into a brick wall of trips held by Black. George Lagos of Stouffville, ON fell in 7th ($302.5k) when he and Anthony Ruberto each came up with a diamond-flush; Ruberto’s was stronger.

Next it was Toronto’s Demosthenes Kiriopoulos exiting the table in 6th ($400k). With about 9 big blinds to go, he shoved on A♥ 2♦, only to be called by Black with pocket 5s. No help came, and Kiriopoulos was out. Finally, Charles La Boissonniere of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC took his leave in 5th ($600k) when a 3-way pot favored Ruberto’s pocket 10s.

Immediately after, Germany’s Markus Pinz fell to Fish (4th, $800k). Soon after, Ruberto exited in 3rd ($1m) with the first 7-figure cash of the day, leaving Fish and Black to battle it out for 1st.

All in all, the final day of the partpoker Millions North America main event was a good one for our hometown heroes. In fact, of the 251 entrants who landed in the money, 131 of them are Canadian poker pros. Even our favorite femme fatale, Kristen Bicknel, earned her buy-in back (and then some) with a 57^th place finish worth $15k.