Henri Balcazar Wins FTP Montreal Festival

Friday October 04,2013 : MONTREAL LIVE POKER TOURNEY A SUCCESS
 
Canadian wins the main event of the Full Tilt Poker Montreal Festival.
 
Kitchener, Ontario grinder Henri Balcazar has bested 1, 624 other players to win the 5-day main event of the Full Tilt Poker Montreal Festival at the Playground Poker Club, taking home $194,044 after a three way chop in the closing stages of the game.
 
Notable names on the player list included Gus Hansen, Gavin Smith, Tom Dwan, Martins Adeniya, Antonio Esfandiari, Dermot Blain, Sin Melin and Victor Ramdin, none of whom made the final table, where the survivors slugged it out for just over nine hours.
 
Vinny Pahuja, started the day as the chip leader, facing a final table of Balcazar, Eric Despres, Mike Linster, Guillaume Rivet, Bill Kontaratos, Roger Lamia, Zeng Yi Xie and Colin Peche.
 
Down to three-handed action, Linster, Despres, and Balcazar agreed after some negotiation to a deal in which Linster, as the chip leader at that point, would take $200,000; Despres $150,000 and Balcazar $150,000, leaving $44,046 on the table for the eventual winner.
 
It turned out to be a smart move for Linster, who was eliminated at third shortly thereafter, leaving the heads up to Balcazar and Despres, with the former holding a three-to-one chip lead that ensured a fast conclusion.
 
“I’m going to buy you a new car,” Balcazar told his mother, who had come along to support him.