James Pillon Wins WSOPC Playground Main Event ($333,240)
The World Series of Poker Playground Main Event has come to an end after an exciting five days of in a bustling poker room full of action. The huge field of 1,503 was conquered by James Pillon after about 9 hours of action on the final day.
"I finally won one of these" said Pillon afterwards. "I play here a lot and have been close a lot of times, if I lost this one I don't now what I would have done."
And indeed Pillon's poker resume is full of final tables, eleven in total, but no first place finishes until today with his closest call coming in January with a second place finish here at Playground in a high roller event. With results dating back to 2018, Pillon says that he plays quite a bit, mainly in Canada with some trips to Vegas and Florida thrown on occasion as well.
Pillon entered the day as chip leader and he was asked if he had any strategy going into the day.
"I just didn't want to give away any chips. Just play steady and smart. That's pretty much it." Which he did for the most part, as he stayed among the big stacks throughout the day and despite a few surges from other players to take the chip lead at different points, Pillon was always still there in striking distance, never dropping too far behind.
This first place prize of $333,240 beats his previous best cash by more than four times ($75,000) which he enjoyed celebrating after the win with a few people on his rail.
It was truly a day of firsts for Pillon. Beyond winning the ring, he also got what he said was his first career royal flush early in the day.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Pillon | Windsor, ON | $333,240 |
| 2 | Lucas Constable | Peterborough, ON | $266,580 |
| 3 | Jishant Sapra | Scarborough, ON | $170,000 |
| 4 | Di Zhang | North York, ON | $125,000 |
| 5 | Arnaud Bonhomme-Lemieux | Quebec, QC | $95,000 |
| 6 | George Caragiorgas | Sainte-Dorothe, QC | $75,000 |
| 7 | Fabrizio Bruno | Lacal, QC | $60,000 |
| 8 | George Lagos | Stouffville, ON | $45,000 |
| 9 | Tommy Nguyen | Mississauga, ON | $31,000 |
Action of the Day
The final day began with 20 players left and steadily went down to the final table, which was reached after about three hours. From there Tommy Nguyen and George Lagos were the first two to depart.
Fabrizio Bruno was next to go in seventh after he had taken the chip lead in the early part of the day. George Caragiorgas followed him as he was able to ride a short stack most of the day to a nice ladder up to sixth place.
Arnaud Bonhomme-Lemieux made headlines early in the day after he won a bombastic three-way all in with aces over queens and jacks to take a big chip lead at that point. He remained among the top stacks in the final table until things got short-haded where he began to lose some pots and eventually lose a chunky one to be cut down to a short stack.
Di Zhang was eliminated in fourth place as he was able to recover from that big three-way all in. He lost that battle but won the war as he actually ended of besting Bonhomme-Lemieux's finish by one spot.
Jishant Sapra became a force at the final table and took a big chip lead at one point after winning some big pots. But during four-handed play, fortune would turn on him as he lost two straight key all ins, both to Lucas Constable which knocked Sapra down to the short stack of three-handed play where he would eventually bow out.
Heads-up play began between Pillon and Constable with Pillon holding a slight chip lead. Constable took control quickly though as he won most of the hands to take the lead. He had a lead as large as 41 million chips to 19 million before he made an incorrect call with ace-high to give Pillon the lead back. Pillon capitalized from there by taking the title the very next hand with top two pair when Constable's combo draw missed.
That wraps things up for the PokerNews coverage in the Playground Main Event. Stay tuned for more action in Quebec as the circuit stop finishes up tonight with the high roller.