Winnipeg player Leo Leclerc cashed in on his trip to the Dakota Dunes Casino just outside of Saskatoon, besting a field of 336 players to claim the $36,840 top prize, plus a seat for the 2012 World Series of Poker.This was Leclerc’s first Championship title win, though the Manitoba player has had several prior final table tables finishes in Regina, including a 2nd place cash in a $1,380 event.
This particular $500 event was played over 2 days, in what now appears to be the sixth edition of the Poker Championship put on by the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority. At one time a $300 buy-in, the popularity and impressive attendance numbers of this No Limit Hold’em tournament warranted raising the stakes for 2011 with the only consequence appearing to be positive in nature; an even fatter prize-pool to play for. The packed field once again proves that months of prior qualifying tournaments leading up to the Championship across multiple venues in the SIGA group is still the right recipe to Canadian poker event success.
30 minute blind levels and 7,500 chip starting stacks seen players from all over the Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba navigate through 12 levels of poker on Day 1, with around 70 players and an average stack of about 35,000 moving on to Day 2.
While falling short of Day 2, Edmonton’s Jody “Jofay” Fayant was one of those made the road trip; giving a positive report with “they fed us a great meal, gave all the players card markers as souvineers and nice gradual blind increases. Cash games were juicy! Two, maybe three $5-$10 No Limit games running.”
After play resumed at 11:00am on Sunday, things didn’t wrap up till around 7:00 that evening, with the top 34 players making the pay-outs…and one unlucky “bubble boy” walking away with a $500 consolation prize. 2011 WSOP bracelet winner Tyler Bonkowski was also amongst the notable finishers at the final table with a 5th place finish here; it seems this past weekend has given a few of our WSOP champions a chance to shine on Canadian felts a little closer to home.
Congratulations to those that cashed and to all those responsible this fantastic turn-out!
Here are the final results:
1. Leo Leclerc, Winnipeg MB $36 840.00 plus WSOP Seat
2. Jay Watson, Saskatoon SK $26 860.00
3. Allan Petitclerc, Calgary AB $18 960.00
4. Kham Vongnhay, Prince Albert SK $12 245.00
5. Tyler Bonkowski, Regina SK $8 374.00
6. Chris Gould, Estevan SK $5 530.00
7. Georgio Minakakis, Saskatoon SK $3 950.00
8. Trevor Shishkin, Saskatoon SK $3 160.00
9. Josh Pyette, Saskatoon SK $2 765.00
10. Travis Brewer, Saskatoon SK $2 370.00
11. Prathana (La) Boungnavath $1 975.00
12. Mike Karpinka $1 975.00
13. Gabriel Eagleshield $1 975.00
14. Darlene Okipokew $1 975.00
15. Travis Stadnyk $1975.00
16. Joe Aistine $1 659.00
17. Paul Denechezhe $1 659.00
18. Kyle Vancaeseele $1 659.00
19. Sheldon Birkeland $1 659.00
20. Kirk Hogarth $1 659.00
21. Angela Carroll $1 422.00
22. Garth Arnason $1 422.00
23. Alex Sauvie $1 422.00
24. Dean Arsenie $1 422.00
25. Dallas Larson $1 422.00
26. Courtney Kostesky $1 422.00
27. Cody Benson $1 422.00
28. Natr Spilker $1 422.00
29. Kurk Clark $1 422.00
30. Tony Kowalczyk $1 422.00
31. Scott Rupcich $1 264.00
32. Stacy Booth $1 264.00
33. Larry Quon $1 264.00
34. Don Anderson $1 264.00
“Bubble Boy” Kurtis Famulak $500.00
