Gabriel Croteau Ships Event #11: $600 No-Limit Hold'em 8-Max for Second Circuit Ring
After 17 hours of play the action has come to a close for Event #10: $600 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max here at the 2024 World Series of Poker Playground. Gabriel Croteau emerged victorious in the early hours of the morning, last defeating Daniel Lefebvre heads-up to take home his second circuit ring and the $41,640 winner's payout.
Croteau stayed above the average stack for the entirety of the day before taking a commanding chip lead at the final table and never looking back. With this victory he earns his second WSOP circuit ring, with the first coming just three months ago at a circuit event in Calgary this past January.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriel Croteau | $41,640 |
| 2 | Daniel Lefebvre | $29,300 |
| 3 | Senthuran Vijayaratnam | $18,850 |
| 4 | Marc Lavergne | $13,000 |
| 5 | Jamie Baker | $10,000 |
| 6 | Panagiotis Prahalis | $8,350 |
| 7 | Stuart Taylor | $6,950 |
| 8 | Paul Nakhle | $5,550 |
| 9 | Albert Gorelik | $4,150 |
Action of the Night
The eleventh of fifteen circuit events attracted a total field of 419 entrants, generating a total prize pool of $213,690, more than quadruple the $50,000 guarantee. Mike Leah got off to a good start today after getting max value with top two pair to put himself among the chip leaders midway through the day. Leah ended up making the money but couldn’t keep the momentum going and was eliminated in not long after the bubble had burst.
Chad Joinson was the unfortunate soul to bust on the stone bubble after running into Paul Nakhle’s turned straight. From that point on all players were guaranteed at least a min-cash of $800 but all eyes were on the circuit ring and top prize of $41,600.
The eliminations came fast and furious after the bubble burst with Croteau emerging as one of the top stacks in the room during this period. Senthuran Vijayaratnam also found himself among the chip leaders after making top pair with ace-king and getting paid the max.
With just 13 players remaining Stuart Taylor scored a pivotal double knockout to soar to the top of the chip counts. Soon after, Taylor knocked out Nektarios Papadedes on the final table bubble to enter the final table with the chip lead with Vijayaratnam and Croteau not far behind him. Taylor eventually took several big hits at the final table before bowing out in seventh after finding himself short-stacked and running into Croteau's pocket queens. Taylor was soon followed out the door by Panagiotis Prahalis in sixth and Jamie Baker in fifth, with Croteau eliminating Baker to find himself with two thirds of the chips in play with just four players remaining.
Croteau quickly picked off a massive bluff from Vijayaratnam shortly after the final table had begun to take the chip lead and never let go of it from there. By the time the field had been whittled down to four players, all of Croteau's remaining opponents were below 15 big blinds and it would not take long for Croteau to first pick off Marc Lavergne in fourth before also knocking out Vijayaratnam in third to set up heads-up play between himself and Daniel Lefebvre.
Croteau began heads-up play with close to a 5:1 chip advantage over Lefebvre but the latter player wasn't going down easily and despite the fact that Lefebvre began heads-up with less than 15 big blinds it would take over an hour for a winner to emerge. Lefebvre successfully picked off bluffs from Croteau, won many small pots and even secured a full double up but ultimately was forced to commit his stack with king-six preflop after being grinded back down to a short stack. Croteau had woken up with king-jack and held to take down the last pot of the night and take home both the $41,600 up top and his second WSOP circuit ring.
That concludes the PokerNews coverage for this event but stay tuned for our continuing coverage of the 2024 World Series of Poker Playground.