It's no secret, certain places are hotbeds for particular types of talent. A disproportionate number of NBA point guards hail from New York City and Chicago. The town of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic has more players per capita currently in major league baseball than any other city on the planet. Canada, and in particular the province of Ontario, has gained attention for producing some of the world's most successful … poker players.
What? You were expecting hockey players?
While the list of Canadian-born pros might be long (Daniel Negreanu, Gavin Smith, Evelyn Ng, "Yukon" Brad Booth, and Isabelle Mercier, to name just a few), the number of major poker tournaments held in Canada was not, until now.
The
World Poker Tour recently traveled north of the border for the first time for the
North American Poker Championship. Played at the Fallsview Casino Hotel, a few minutes' walk from the famous Niagara Falls, the $10,000 buy-in event, with a projected $1.3 million first-place prize, instantly became one of the largest, and most lucrative, poker tournaments in Canadian history.
Finally, the country noted for being the homeland for many of the game's top players possessed a poker event on par with its talent.
Days 1A and 1B: The World's Game
Time and location made turnout a big question going into the
North American Poker Championship. Coming only days after the
WPT Festa al Lago V, and held in the it-might-as-well-be-the-North-Pole locale of Niagara Falls, Ontario, speculation developed concerning how many players would actually attend the tournament.
All of those worries ended well before the start date, as the level of early registrations prompted tournament officials to institute a two-flight day one. A total field of 497 players (263 on day 1A and 234 on 1B) gathered before a consistently packed rail of local fans, kicking off Canada's first $10,000 buy-in
WPT event.
"It's great that the World Poker Tour has finally come to Canada," said reigning
WPT Player of the Year and Ontario native Gavin Smith. "Poker's an international game."
Both day ones featured a structure custom-made for the pro style of tournament play - big stacks and long levels. Players brought $20,000 stacks into action and the 90-minute levels started with $25-$25 blinds.
The structure meant there would be few eliminations during early action on day 1A and 1B. Yet, despite the lack of casualties, the player considered to be the
North American Poker Championship's biggest draw failed to survive the tournament's first level.
A veritable national hero, Daniel Negreanu entered the tournament surrounded by a rock star-like buzz. The spotlight only magnified the shock and disappointment felt by the hometown crowd when Canada's "Kid Poker" bowed out of the tournament about an hour into play after an opponent flopped a full house to crack Negreanu's pocket kings.
With the tournament continuing without one of its favorite sons, John Juanda earned the title of day-one chip leader. A win with quad deuces took his stack over the $200,000 mark, while local pro Jason Sagle, the day 1B chip boss, followed close behind with $180,000.
Day Two: Can You Count to 45 in Canadian?
With more than half the field playing tourist, and either snapping shots of nearby Niagara Falls or heading home, the remaining 223 players returned on day two with one goal - make the money.
Set to burst with the tournament's 46th-place elimination, the bursting bubble represented not only the usual monetary implications, but also the end of the second day of play.
Unlike days 1A and 1B, day two saw a slew of eliminations in early play. A total of 53 participants went from millionaire hopefuls to grab-your-camera tourists in the first hour and a half. Some of the pros included in the mass exodus were "Captain" Tom Franklin, Sean McCabe, Dan Harrington, Victor Ramdin, Liz Lieu, Alan Goehring, and PokerStars' own Ontario representative, Isabelle Mercier.
The cadre of Canadian stars slimmed even more when Nam Le eliminated Gavin Smith during the day's second level. While other indigenous pros remained in contention - most notably, Jason Sagle, who again spent the day near the top of the leader board - the eliminations of Mercier and Smith left Brad Booth as the tournament's last Canadian-born star, and "Yukon" took full advantage.
Donning a bright-red Canada hockey jersey and furry hunting cap, Booth interacted with the always packed rail, while entertaining both fans
and opponents with his table banter and play.
"Life is tough, but then I see Brad Booth, and life is good," admitted Gene Todd, who sat next to Booth for the majority of day two.
Along with drawing laughs for his family-friendly exclamation "mother-father," and rapping with New York native Todd, Booth was also involved in one of the day's most talked about hands.
The action started when Booth bet $5,000 after a 10
10
7
flop, and Shaun Sturgeon raised to $13,000. Booth called, and Sturgeon's all-in $67,100 bet on the J♦ turn elicited a response from Booth exemplary of the reasons for his popularity at the tournament. While mulling the call, Booth chatted with not only Sturgeon, but the dealer and fellow big stack John Juanda, as well. Booth checked Sturgeon's pulse, called "clock" on himself, and responded, "That's a lifetime for a 35-second-year-old baby" when officials informed him he had 35 seconds to make a decision.
Booth called, and his J
2
gave him the lead over Sturgeon's K
Q
. But a rare silent moment occurred at a Brad Booth table as the Q
hit the river. Despite the loss, Booth still finished day two in the top-10 chip counts.
Another player who drew attention on day two was Melissa Hayden. Two hours after officials redrew for the final 90 participants, Hayden guaranteed herself the status of last woman standing by eliminating the only other female player left in the field.
As tables continued to break, Juanda and John D'Agostino enjoyed another successful day. The two FullTilt pros occupied spots in the top five, with Juanda taking fourth place and D'Agostino moving up to second, courtesy of two big wins during the day's final level.
No win, however, held more significance than Mark Newhouse's victory over Kam Low. The 2006
Borgata Poker Open champion sent Low home in 46th place when his pocket queens bested Low's pocket sixes. The elimination burst the money bubble, thus bringing to a close the tournament's second phase.
Day Three: Oh Canada! The Fight for the Final Six
Taking a gander at the Niagara Falls puts life in perspective: In the grand scheme of things, we're all pretty small. For the 45 players involved on day three, glancing at the felt-covered tables in the Grand Hall also added perspective: Canada's first
WPT televised final table was still a long, long way off.
The sight of a little green, however, was not so distant. Sixteen minutes into play, Stephan Ladowsky earned the tournament's first paycheck. He finished in 45th place ($19,317) when his A
K
collided with Jason Sagle's A
A
.
Ladowsky's elimination made poker history - Canadian poker history, to be exact - but the biggest story of day three centered on the early departure of "Yukon" Brad Booth. After dropping half of his stack to a John Lam full house, Booth lost several other hands before making a surprising 39th-place exit ($19,317). Down to his last $46,000, Booth moved all in preflop with the K
J
, only to have Mark Newhouse, holding the A
K
, call.
"Now comes the long walk back to the hotel room," Booth said, smiling, after his defeat.
Even with Booth's elimination, day three still featured an abundance of big-name stars. With so many pros left in the field, high-profile matchups became inevitable. UltimateBet's James "KrazyKanuck" Worth used pocket kings to send Allen Cunningham to the rail in 32nd place ($33,805), and then added to his pro trophy case by making Gene Todd the tournament's 23rd-place finisher ($48,293).
Sagle followed his Canadian counterpart's run of success by eliminating Newhouse in 17th place ($62,781), and D'Agostino (A
Q
) made Nam Le (A
K
) one of the last big names to bust out before the final table when he flopped a Broadway straight to stop Le's run with a 12th-place finish ($62,781).
The tournament moved to a sequestered corner of the Grand Hall and fans crammed into any and all available space to witness the first
WPT final table ever held on Canadian soil.
Many did not have to travel far to cheer on their favorite player, as seven out of the 10 remaining participants hailed from Canada. Despite being outnumbered, the American side boasted two of the most successful tournament players in poker - John D'Agostino and John Juanda.
The numbers game soon began to even out. First, Juanda doubled up through Marc Karam after his pocket aces held up against Karam's pocket kings (Juanda warned Karam not to call). An hour later, Eric Cajelais became the final table's first elimination (10th - $62,781) after his A
K
failed to hold up against John Lam's 9
9
, and D'Agostino (A
K
) cut the Canadian lead to two players when he spiked an ace on the river to beat Stephen Black's déjà vu hand, the 9
9
(ninth place - $77,269).
Perhaps taking a cue from the national anthem, the local players "stood on guard" for Canada's first WPT final table and made Americans the last two eliminations of the day. D'Agostino missed a flush draw against Sagle's pocket kings (eighth place - $96,587), while Adam Dunkle's pocket fives ran into, what else, the 9
9
held by James "KrazyKanuck" Worth. Fans applauded as Dunkle's seventh-place finish ($120,733) ended day-three play.
The Final Table
The Fallsview Casino Hotel's Avalon Ballroom usually houses rock concerts and musical acts. Early on Oct. 19, anyone in the area would have thought a big name had come to town. Lines stretched all the way from the Ballroom's entrance down the Fallsview's main galleria. It was a clear sellout show, but the fans weren't standing hours in advance for a top-40 pop star or classic rock band. All the fuss, all the excitement, centered on Canada's biggest poker tournament ever - the
North American Poker Championship final table.
"It's the Canadian way," said Brad Booth, on hand to watch the historic event, regarding the massive turnout.
The Avalon Ballroom, set up like a poker arena, complete with an upper deck, featured the ideal lineup for the occasion: five Canadian-born players and an American, who just so happened to be one of the most feared and successful tournament pros of the modern era.
The chip counts going into action were as follows:
1. Jason Sagle, $2,970,000, (seat No. 3)
2. John Lam, $2,285,000, (seat No. 4)
3. Soren Turkewitsch, $1,690,000, (seat No. 5)
4. James "KrazyKanuck" Worth, $1,305,000, (seat No. 1)
5. Marc Karam, $1,290,000, (seat No. 2)
6. John Juanda, $425,000, (seat No. 6)
At 5:07 p.m. EDT, the final table kicked off with $15,000-$30,000 blinds and $3,000 antes.
Pocket Rockets Take Out Marc Karam
On the 22nd hand of play, Marc Karam, an Ottawa native and the day-two chip boss, became the final table's first elimination. Karam bet $90,000 preflop and moved all in after Soren Turkewitsch raised to $400,000. An immediate call made Karam shake his head as he flipped over the J
J
. Coming off a final-table appearance at the EPT event in Monte Carlo, Karam stood as Turkewitsch showed the A
A
. The 8
7
5
5
4
board offered the 26-year-old pro no help, and he walked off the final-table stage as the sixth-place finisher ($169,027).
John Juanda Battles to a Fifth-Place Finish
Despite being a prohibitive short stack, John Juanda still entered as the final table's most feared player. "I hope he's the first one out," chip leader Jason Sagle admitted prior to the action. "I'm just happy to see he's short-stacked."Karam, Lam, and Turkewitsch all shared Sagle's sentiment, and the intimidation factor apparently worked. Juanda moved all in a total of 11 times without a caller, en route to outlasting Karam and cracking the $1 million chip mark. Play reached the day's third level before Juanda found action on an all-in hand, but, of course, he was the caller. Pushing from the small blind, Turkewitsch turned over the 9
9
and Juanda, the big blind, showed the A
Q
. The 7
5
4
2
board gave Juanda numerous outs, but he missed them all with the 6
river. The big, bad American still received a standing ovation as he left in fifth place ($217,320).
"KrazyKanuck" Takes Fourth Place
James "KrazyKanuck" Worth experienced a slow final table. After moving all in on the first hand, the UltimateBet pro had little opportunity to display the table personality and play that made him one of the NAPC's most popular participants. Hovering near the middle of the pack all day, Worth raised all in over the top of a Sagle bet. Sagle called, and Worth's A
Q
put him at a huge disadvantage to Sagle's A
K
. No queens or hearts came on the J
6
5
4
2
board, and Worth exited as the fourth-place finisher ($289,760).
One Hand Dooms Lam
A Toronto native and 24-year-old up-and-coming pro, John Lam climbed into second place after entering threehanded action as the short stack. But an all-in move with the A
J
against Turkewitsch all but ended Lam's run at his first major title. Calling all in for his remaining $2,670,000, Turkewitsch's A
K
held up. The win gave Turkewitsch the chip lead for the second time in threehanded play, and crippled Lam. Down to $800,000 and forced to make a move, Lam moved all in with the 10
5
. Turkewitsch called with the A
Q
and eliminated Lam in third place ($352,541) after the Q
7
5
3
2
board came.
Jason Sagle vs. Soren Turkewitsch
With the
North American Poker Championship title already guaranteed to go to a Canadian player, Jason Sagle, a 30-year-old high-stakes cash-game specialist, and Soren Turkewitsch, an automobile factory worker from Ontario, squared off for heads-up play.
The chip counts were as follows:
1. Soren Turkewitsch, $6,135,000
2. James Sagle, $3,830,000
Sagle, an imposing but gregarious mountain of a player with the nickname "Big Bird," ended all talk of a quick heads-up match after only four hands. A double-up for Sagle, courtesy of pocket fours holding up against the A
Q
, erased Turkewitsch's near 2-to-1 chip lead. After controlling threehanded action with his table banter and physical stature, Sagle employed the same tactics again, and took down a number of uncontested pots while building a chip lead.
Citing the title as having more meaning than the money, Sagle seemed a lock to achieve his goal until … he made the right call. In front of a rowdy Avalon Ballroom audience, and after an all-in preflop bet by Turkewitsch, Sagle studied his opponent for several minutes before saying, "I think you're bluffing."
The read proved to be right when Turkewitsch turned over the A
3
and Sagle showed the A
9
. The 9
5
2
flop paired Sagle's 9 but gave Turkewitsch a straight draw. With fans chanting, "Four, four, four," the 4
came on the turn. The win shot Turkewitsch up to the $9.6 million mark and dropped Sagle to around $400,000.
Sagle, visibly shellshocked after the hand, doubled up twice but failed to close the gap any further. On the final hand of the tournament, Sagle, behind the $300,000-$600,000 blinds, moved all in with the A
5
. Turkewitsch's K
2
paired a deuce on the J
7
6
4
2
board, bringing an end to Canada's first $10,000 WPT event.
Fans on both sides of the heads-up match applauded Sagle for his final-table performance, which paid $676,107.
Parlaying a $90 satellite into a $1,352,224 first-place payday, Turkewitsch appeared overwhelmed, but happy."[My biggest poker accomplishment until today] was winning a seat into this event," he said after his victory. "This is just a sick amount of money."
If Turkewitsch finds the $1.3 million unbelievable, the young pro will have to brace for the monetary ramifications of his entry into the
WPT Championship event, which last year paid a first-place prize of $3.7 million.
Welcome to the big leagues.
