PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event Day 4: Antonio Esfandiari Bubbles Final Table

Kim Yuhl Contributor

May 28, 2014 2 min read Last updated May 29, 2014

Twenty seven players returned for Day 4 of the PokerStars Canada Cup Main Event at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal. The tournament had a $2,000,000 guarantee, and with 578 total entries it fell short of its goal, providing the players some extra value with $266,000 in overlay.

Play on Day 4 began with 26 players and continued until the final table of nine was reached. It didn’t take long for the first few eliminations of the day to happen as Amer Sulaiman and Johnny Massaferro were eliminated in 27th and 26th place, respectively.

Former World Series of Poker Main Event Champion and Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel was the next player to hit the rail when his K♣9♣ couldn’t improve against Antonio Esfandiari’s A♦4♦.

The fast-paced play continued with the tournament losing five players in about an hour’s time. That set up a cooler between the jacks of PokerStars Team Online Marc-André Ladouceur and the kings of James Armstrong, eliminating Ladouceur in 19th place.

With 18 players left and only nine more to go before the final table was set, players made their way to their new seats. Within the next hour, Micah Johnson, Jeremie Bilodeau, Marcello Delgrasso and Amir Babakhani were eliminated.

It took another full hour before McKenzie James was eliminated in 14th place after being crippled when Ryan Rivers paired his queen on the turn to best James. It was fifth-place finisher in the Canada Cup The High Roller, Kevin MacDonald, who hit the rail next. He was immediately followed to the rail by Theodore Doukas in 12th place and Francois Binette in 11th.

That set up a final-table bubble with Justin Miller leading the pack and François Goulet the short stack. After 2 1/2 hours of play, Antonio Esfandiari found himself in a race situation holding A♠K♦ against the 8♣8♠ of Goulet. Esfandiari found an ace on the 6♠A♣7♣ flop and maintained the lead through the 10♥. But unfortunately for Esfandiari, the river brought the 8♥ to give Goulet a rivered set. That left Esfandiari short and he was eliminated a short time later.