Currently in Canada: A Regina Wrapup, Interviews with Two of the Country's Best
Keep up with all the news coming out of the Canadian poker world with this quick recap of the top headlines of the last week from PokerNews Canada.
Joey Basaraba Wins Station Poker Classic Main Event after Heads-Up Chop With Mike Schmidt
The 2017 Station Poker Classic at Casino Regina finished early in the morning March 22 with the $1,100 Main Event. The event attracted 212 entries creating a prize pool of $212,000, paying 22 spots (including a min-cash of $2,475) and giving the winner a whopping $56,162.
The final two players made a deal after 2012 Station Poker Classic Main Event winner Glen Adams was eliminated in third place for $23,788. The even split between the two players saw each receive $45,326.
Both players agreed a best three-out-of-five flip for the title and honor of being named champion. In the end Joey Basaraba won the first three hands, the ring and a spot on the champions banner that is hung in Casino Regina.
Over the four events held during the Station Poker Classic, the total prize pool eclipsed the half-million dollar mark. Thomas Taylor managed to top a field of 188 entries to win Event #1: $500 No-Limit Hold’em March 22.
Event #2 ran March 23 with the $700 No-Limit Hold’em event. Dominick French edged out Danny Lamb in nearly a three-hour-long heads-up battle for the title.
Event #3 saw the buy-in increase to $900. Out of that, $800 went toward the prize pool with the additional $100 bounty on every player’s head. The event saw a three-way deal with Chris Bowers taking the title along with $26,000. Pak Chan and John Hashem were also involved in the deal with each taking home $24,456.
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In Depth with WPT Champion Ema Zajmovic
While it wasn’t her first WPT televised final table, Ema Zajmovic made history this February becoming the first female to win an open WPT Main Event when she won the WPT Playground, collecting $241,500, a WPT Playground championship belt, and her name etched in WPT lore on the WPT Champions Cup. PokerNews Canada’s Aleeyah Jadavji goes in depth to uncover more about the woman who wanted to be a lawyer and holds a degree in public relations.
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Getting To Know Kristen Bicknell
She’s always had success in the online realm under the username “krissyb24.” It only took Canadian Kristen Bicknell 10 months to earn Supernova Elite status on PokerStars on her first try. She managed to earn that honor four years in a row.
All the hard work and grinding is also starting to pay off in the live poker sector as well. She now has two WSOP gold bracelets to go along with the “spadie” trophy she just won for capturing a tournament victory in Panama at the PokerStars Championship Panama.
PokerNews Canada’s Aleeyah Jadavji sat down with Bicknell to get to know one of the biggest rising stars in the live tournament poker scene.
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”B_thebenlar” Wins 888poker Mega Deep For $25K As Top Canadian On Virtual Felt
It was another exciting weekend on the virtual felt which saw many Canadians make deep runs across sites like 888poker, PokerStars and partpoker. This Sunday, top honors went to “B_thebenlar” who won the $120,000 Mega Deep on 888poker for $25,012.
There was one other deep run on 888poker when “justgamblin” made the final table in the $320 buy-in $100,000 Baby Whale. He ended up busting in fifth place for $5,848.
On PokerStars, one Canadian made the final table of the Sunday Million. Canadian “jf slim777” ended up placing eighth for $12,778.58. “Micky 4T” made a deep run in the $11 Sunday Storm but finished in ninth place for $2,010.
In the $22 Mini Sunday Million, “PATNITROF” almost topped a field of 9,822 but fell one spot short, finishing in second place and taking home $17,848.26. “jnfpoker,” also Canadian, finished the Mini Sunday Million in third place for $12,525.32. In the biggest four-card poker tournament of the week, the $1,050 PLO Sunday Grand, Ami “UhhMee” Barer finished fourth for $12,166.
On partypoker, Canada’s “AAassasin007” finished third in the $109 Heavyweight: The Main Event for $14,556. In the $530 High Roller, 386 players took part with “GriggsT1ts” finishing seventh for $5,150 while “MyronFlagburn” finished eighth for $3,73. The last result on partypoker went to “MrsPaintba1l” who finished eighth in the $2,600 Super High Roller, collecting $4,772. Russia’s “PhileasFogg” took home the crown and $52,604.
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Same Name, Familiar Story Atop Canada’s GPI Ranking
Ari Engel leads Canada’s GPI overall rankings for the 22nd straight week. In fact, the rankings stayed exactly the same from last week with Mike Leah, Sam Greenwood, Timothy Adams and Daniel Dvoress rounding out the top five spots.
Engel also remains atop the Canadian 2017 Player of the Year list while Dvoress, Leah, Bicknell, and Sorel Mizzi round out the top five. Paul Sokoloff ended up being the only one to climb a spot in the top 10, moving from ninth to eighth by making a final table at the Station Poker Classic at Casino Regina this past week.
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