Last weekend, the Major Series of Poker: The Tour (MSPT) was at Playground for the second-ever MSPT Canadian Poker Championship, an $1,150 buy-in Main Event that attracted 809 entries and awarded a C$1,000,000 prize pool.
Of those, 90 returned for Day 2 action with well-accomplished poker pro Sam Chartier sitting as a shorter stack. Before long, he started to spin and eventually found his way to the final table, where he played a patient game. Eventually, with just three players remaining, Chartier took over the chip lead for the first time and used it to good effect.
First, he flopped top pair again against Mohamed Kechiche, who had an open-ended straight draw. The chips went in, and while the latter turned a bigger pair, Chartier rivered two pair to score the knockout and take a big chip lead into heads-up play against Adil Morkos.
It didn’t take long for a coinflip to close things out as Morkos got it in preflop with two black sevens against the ace-jack of Chartier. Morkos survived the flop, but disaster struck for him when a jack spiked on the turn. The river was a brick and Morkos had to settle for second place and a C$124,000 payday.
The C$175,000 win brought Chartier’s lifetime tournament earnings to more than $3.5 million according to The Hendon Mob. It marked the fifth-largest score of Chartier’s poker career, which dates back to 2007, though it as his largest score in a decade and his biggest-ever in Canada!
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Chartier | Canada | $175,000 |
| 2 | Adil Morkos | Canada | $124,000 |
| 3 | Mohamed Kechiche | France | $80,150 |
| 4 | Yanis Mouddakir | France | $58,000 |
| 5 | Anas Slaoui | Canada | $45,000 |
| 6 | Alec Brandstatter | Canada | $36,000 |
| 7 | Elie Kortbawi | Canada | $28,000 |
| 8 | Pierre-Paul Paulin | Canada | $22,000 |
| 9 | Nassim Hafici | Canada | $17,500 |
Others to cash the tournament were Griffin Benger (112th – $14,500), the last American Ilan Goldman (12th – $14,500), Eric Callejas (15th – $12,000), Omri Cohen (22nd – $7,000), Xuan Dang (30th – $5,000), Merritt Kuhn (33rd – $5,000), and DJ Buckley (49th – $4,000).
What’s Coming Up on the MSPT?
Season 17 of the MSPT continues with an MSPT Festival at Grand Falls Casino just outside Sioux Falls from Oct. 28-Nov. 1. From there, it’s off to Iowa’s Riverside Casino from Nov. 3-8, followed by the first-ever MSPT and Seminole Hard Rock collaboration at the Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open from Nov. 17 through Dec. 2.
Click here for a look at the full MSPT schedule.
*Images courtesy of MSPT.
Chad Holloway
PR & Media Manager