Big Numbers – Mid Week Update from Summer Super Stack

The mid-week action at the Summer Super Stack at Deerfoot Inn & Casino has been huge, with bigger-than-expected fields in most events. Tuesday saw the ever-popular 6-Max game, and it was even more popular than expected, with 117 entries by the time the registration desk shut down.

That put more than $100k into the prizes for that one, and the following day, the open flight to the $560 Megastack also crushed expectations. That game drew 177 entries, more than 50 above Deerfoot’s conservative pregame estimate, and more than 25 above my seemingly large prediction of 150. That put nearly $85k into the prizes from the opening day alone, making a $200k+ prize pool a near certainty when entries close on Day 1b.

If there was a cloud on the horizon from this week, it might be the PLO Megastack, which ran alongside Day 1a of the NLH Megastack on Wednesday. That game didn’t quite hit the numbers predicted, but it’s only one of two games that have fallen short, while every other game has exceeded estimates by a significant margin. The PLO Megastack drew 47 entries for $32,148 in prizes.

Jerry Li Wins 6-Max for $27,185

The 6-Max game was yet another example of big numbers for the Summer Super Stack this week. When the entry desk closed, 117 buy-ins, for $100,035 in prizes, were in the pot waiting to be shared by 12 players. There were a couple of Vancouver players who arrived on Tuesday and figured in the endgame, with George Yang coming 7th, and Homan Mohammadi taking 5th place.

It was a local player, Jerry Li, who took down the title, however. Li ran pure at the final table, though he ran into some stiff competition heads up against Eric Wasylenko, who got into town just in time for Monday’s HORSE game.

Li found another gear in the heads-up phase against Wasy. He came into the HU phase as a slight dog to Wasy, but he immediately found a couple of huge spots where he flopped the goods to take a big lead. In the final hand, Li won a flip against Wasylenko, who got his short stack in with deuces and was looking good to double until Li found an ace on the river to take it all down.

Another notable player in the 6-Max mix was Graydon Kowal. Kowal cashed for 8th place in one of his rare appearances here for a tournament. He has good reasons for not coming out to poker more often, however. He owns Guardian Helicopters out of Springbank Airport near Calgary, so he spends a lot of his time on that. Last week, he spent 40 hours in the air over northern Manitoba helping to fight the wildfires there, so even with the stress of playing poker for thousands of dollars, there was likely no one else in the field better equipped to deal with high-pressure situations.

Results from Event #11: $1,000 NLH 6Max

Place	Player	Prize
1	Jerry Li	$27,185
2	Eric Wasylenko	$19,300
3	Ramaz Haymour	$14,000
4	Colten Yamagishi	$10,000
5	Homan Mohammadi	$7,000
6	Scot Munro	$5,000
7	Zhi Yang	$4,200
8	Graydon Kowal	$3,500
9	Bobby Baiton	$3,000
10	Glenn Slater	$2,600
11	Sebastien Fallu	$2,250
12	Michael Bernstein	$2,000

Day 1a of the $560 Megastack Was Huge

It was a big field for Day 1a of the Megastack, and it played very late before they finally decided on the 17 qualifiers. There were supposed to be 18 bags at the end of the day, but after a bubble lasting more than 2 hours, two players busted on the final hand to leave one fewer bag than expected.

The top end of the counts at the end of the day was like a flip from the previous day’s action. At the end of the 6-Max game, Jerry Li was the winner over Eric Wasylenko, but the following day, that was reversed as Wasylenko bagged more than 650k for first place, while Li was in second with 633k. They were the only players in the 600k zone, with Mal Hagan sitting on the only stack in the 500s for third.

Day 1a Qualifying Stacks from the $560 Megastack

Mohammadi Takes Down PLO Megastack

It was a busy couple of days for Homan Mohammadi on Tuesday and Wednesday here at Deerfoot. He was up at 5 AM on Tuesday morning to catch a flight in from Vancouver, landed in Calgary, wandered the casino for a few hours waiting for his room to be ready, then jumped into the 6-Max game that was the main feature for Tuesday’s action.

About 12 hours later, he was collecting 5th place money in the game, worth $7k. He got some sleep, then showed up on Wednesday to hop into the PLO Megastack, which was playing out alongside Day 1a of the NLH Megastack.

About 12 hours later, he was sitting with all the chips at the end of that one, after prevailing in a two-hour heads-up match against Michael Wo. Wo led the way through most of the final table, though Mohammadi was also big through much of the in-the-money play.

It was really a game between Wo and Mohammadi, with Cody Richardson, Mike Flanagan, and Scot Munro never really able to gain any traction, and Wo and Mohammadi were left to battle it out heads up. That kicked off an epic battle that went on for more than two hours as the two traded blows.

It wasn’t a passive table. Both players were pushing the action, and both had multiple chances to win it all with the other player all in. Through most of the action, the at-risk player was always able to find a way to double up and stay in the game.

In the final few hands, Mohammadi had taken the lead with the help of turned trip deuces, then found a great spot where he flopped two pair against Wo’s overpair. Wo was short, down to just a few big blinds, and the money went in. Wo couldn’t find the help he needed, and Mohammadi was sitting with all the chips for a prize of more than $11k.

Results from the PLO Megastack

Place	Player	Prize
1	Homan Mohammadi	$11,573
2	Michael Wo	$8,358
3	Michael Flanagan	$5,787
4	Scot Munro	$3,858
5	Cody Richardson	$2,572