The 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America festival at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Canada has got off to a flying start with three of the tournaments’ champions already crowned.
David Eldridge took down the CAD$10,300 MILLIONS High Roller for a cool CAD$300,000, which propelled his lifetime winnings through the $1.1 million barrier. Eldridge, of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania in the United States, topped a field of 80 entrants to get his hands on what is the largest live poker tournament cash of his career.
Eleven of the 80 entrants receive prize money for their efforts with Ireland’s Marc MacDonnell being the first player to collect some cash, namely CAD$20,000. MacDonnell was followed to the cashier’s cage by Louis Boutin (CAD$22,500) and Christopher Kruk (CAD$27,500); more on Kruk later.
The legendary Chris Moorman was the first casualty of the final table and he was joined on the rail first by Ami Alibay and then by popular Twitch streamer Parker Talbot. This talented trio were soon being kept company by MILLIONS Germany Main Event champion Viktor Blom before reigning MILLIONS Online champion Jon Van Fleet exited in fourth-place.
Canada’s Kevin Hobbs crashed out in third, which left Eldridge and Victor Ramdin to lock horns heads-up. The one-on-one battle was over quite quickly, ending in a preflop encounter that saw Ramdin all-in with 
and Eldridge holding the advantage courtesy of his 
. By the time the river was dealt, the board read 
to bust Ramdin in second-place and leave Eldridge to revel in glory.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Eldridge | United States | $300,000 |
| 2 | Victor Ramdin | United States | $180,000 |
| 3 | Kevin Hobbs | Canada | $120,000 |
| 4 | Jon Van Fleet | United States | $90,000 |
| 5 | Viktor Blom | Sweden | $72,500 |
| 6 | Parker Talbot | Canada | $57,500 |
| 7 | Ami Alibay | Canada | $45,000 |
| 8 | Chris Moorman | United Kingdom | $35,000 |
Kamal beats his best live score by almost seven times!
Karim-Olivier Kamal’s largest live poker tournament cash used to weigh in at CAD$34,500, his reward for a fifth-place finish in a CAD$1,650 tournament at the 2016 World Cup of Cards. Now he can boast of one worth CAD$210,000 thanks to winning the $1,100 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America Open.
One-hundred and 43 players receive a payout in this tournament with the likes of Team partypoker’s Richard Dubini (122nd for CAD$3,000), Griffin Benger (66th for CAD$4,000), and Jeffrey Sarwer (36th for CAD$5,500) cashing.
At least CAD$15,000 was guaranteed for the eight finalists, which is what Alexander Hartung collected when he missed an open-ended straight draw in a hand where Chris Moorman held a set of fours.
Ryan Yu fell in seventh-place and he was followed to the cashier’s cage by former World Series of Poker Main Event champion Martin Jacobson.
The tournament grew less shark infested with the elimination of Australia’s Alexander Lynskey in fifth-place. Aaron Duczak crashed out in fourth-place before Moorman’s 6.5 big blind shove with suited queen-eight was snapped off by Kauvsegan Ehamparam and his pocket kings.
Kamal held a huge 956,000,000 to 275,000,000 lead over Ehamparam and he never relinquished his lead. Eventually, Ehamparam moved all-in for 10 big blinds with 
and looked in good shape to double up because Kamal called with 
. Kamal took the lead on the 
flop and stayed ahead on the 
turn. The river brought the 
into play, which meant Kamal’s pair of tens held and the title was his.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karim-Olivier Kamal | Canada | $210,000 |
| 2 | Kauvsegan Ehamparam | Canada | $133,920 |
| 3 | Chris Moorman | United Kingdom | $88,000 |
| 4 | Aaron Duczak | Canada | $58,000 |
| 5 | Alexander Lynskey | Australia | $40,000 |
| 6 | Martin Jacobson | Sweden | $28,000 |
| 7 | Ryan Yu | Canada | $20,000 |
| 8 | Alexander Hartung | Germany | $15,000 |
Keep up-to-date with all of the MILLIONS North America Main Event action and the rest of the festival’s live updates over at My partypoker LIVE.
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