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.

Kruk crowned Super High Roller champion

Canada’s Christopher Kruk boosted his lifetime winnings to more than $2.3 million thanks to taking down the CAD$25,500 MILLIONS Super High Roller for CAD$375,000.

Forty-seven entries were processed, which beat the CAD$1 million guarantee, and the prize pool was shared among the top seven finishers. Only 15 players made it through to Day 2, including Team partypoker’s Joao Simao, but our hero exited as the final table approached when his could not come from behind to beat the of John Krpan.

Viktor Blom was the unfortunate soul to burst the bubble. With blinds at 50,000/100,000/100,000a, Chance Kornuth opened to 225,000 with from the cutoff and Blom called in the big blind with . Blom check-called a 200,000 bet on the flop before check-calling a 675,000 bet on the turn, a card that gave Kornuth a flush. The river was the , Blom checked, Kornuth moved all-in and Blom eventually called off his 2.8 million stack with his straight, only to be shown Kornuth’s winning flush.

Krpan was the first player to receive prize money, CAD$60,000 for his seventh-place finish before Victor Ramdin, fresh from his runner-up finish in the CAD$10,300 High Roller exited in sixth-place for CAD$80,000. They were then joined on the sidelines by Niall Farrell who committed his stack after a three-bet with ace-king only to run into the pocket kings of Anthony Zinno.

Fourth-place went to Kornuth, who later tweeted that he had great fun playing in this partypoker LIVE event and when serial winner Darren Elias bust in third-place, a heads-up battle between Zinno and Kruk ensued.

Neither player could pull away from the other in terms of their chip stacks. Then, during the 300,000/600,000/600,000a level, Zinno opened to 1,500,000 with then called off his 20,725,000 stack when Kruk three-bet all-in with what turned out to be .

The flop kept Zinno ahead. Kruk gained a few outs when the appeared on the turn, and when the showed up on the river, it counterfeited Zinno’s hand and crowned Kruk the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America Super High Roller champion.

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.

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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