Double Cash for Ryan Cairns as Day 4 of the PPT is the Busiest Yet

Unique to the PPT is the survivor tournament pool. Play continues to the money where the remaining players chop the prize pool. Ryan Cairns, Bash Ramani, and Avery Aloneissi were the three players remaining after all was said and done. The event saw 21 entries and the three players earned $1,995 for their efforts. This wasn’t the only cash for Cairns as he began the day in Event #3: $670 Multi-Day

Starting with a modest stack of 200,000, Weston Pring was able to battle back to take Event #3. He bested Paul Brar in heads-up play overcoming a 2:1 deficit to win the trophy. Heads-Up play was a marathon with 100 big blinds on the table to start. Pring stayed disciplined and made a hero call to take an overwhelming lead. Soon after, he sent Brar out in second ($12,500) to take his second PPT Trophy.

With 15 players remaining, Day 2 of the multi-day was guaranteed to be a battle. Ali Razzaq took an early chip lead heading into the first break with 540,000. Stefan Maloney (416,000) sat close behind and Robert Limpert (302,000) held his third-place position. Cairns was the first to fall while Johnny Dalphond and Trevor Simpson rounded out the min-cash positions. Rapid busts brought the event to a final table. Jeff Bryde, Jimmy Lee, and Ali Razzaq were the players to fall.

Former chip leaders seemed bound to bust as Limpert was the first to exit from the final table. Nadav Bitton was next to hit the rail after he made top pair with king-queen. The monotone board gave Josh Wallace a flopped flush and Bitton couldn’t improve. Ben Wilson called off his stack on the turn with a flopped flush draw holding A♥4♥. Wallace’s king-queen held to send Wilson out in seventh place. Shortly after, David Johnstone fell leaving the tournament five-handed.

Colten Yamagishi joked that “he always gets 6th in these.” and hoped to go a little deeper today. His fifth-place finish was an improvement netting him $4,815. The chip leader heading into Day 2, Stefan Maloney was sent out in 4th place with ace-king into Brar’s pocket kings. The two players got it all in and Maloney couldn’t find an ace to improve. Pring’s tournament life was on the line as he shoved blind vs blind. Wallace made the call and revealed king-jack of hearts. Pring’s ace-seven off found an ace on the flop but he would have to hold against Wallace’s heart draw. The board ran clean to leave him in the tourney with 400,000.

Pring again jammed against Wallace and was in trouble as his 7♦5♦ was behind Wallace’s Q♦J♣. A five on the turn flipped the odds as the river was inconsequential. Both players sat just under 500,000 and Brar was miles ahead with 2,000,000. Wallace would be the next to bust shoving ace-three into Pring’s pocket nines. Brar had a two-to-one chip lead going into heads-up play. Pring slowly chipped up and regained the chip lead with 1,750,000 to 1,250,000.

It was short-lived as Brar flipped those stacks around shortly after. Brar continued winning pot after pot until Pring made a hero call. He called off with a second pair to take a 5:1 chip lead over Brar. The tournament would soon end as Brar jammed king-six into Pring’s king-jack. He couldn’t hit his kicker and was sent home in 2nd place. After 8.5 hours of play the tournament finished for Pring to add to his collection.

A relative newcomer to the scene, Michael St. Pierre-Porter overcame the 143-player field to take his first trophy and $10,125. Three-handed, the players made a deal with Lee Schick taking $10,000 and Vinh Vu taking $11,000. Pierre-Porter bested Vu in heads-up play to take home the title. Pierre-Porter has seen success in the series with multiple cashes and podium finishes earlier in the series.

On the stone bubble, Hamish Tong and Vish Vu were miles ahead of everyone else with 610,000 and 502,000. Ron Toledo (14,000) was looking to hold into the money. His wish came true as Josh Wallace exited as the bubble. He shoved ace-four into Jo Teliani’s ace-ten to hit the rail. Eliminations were rapid as Toledo, Murray Duval, Stacey Deitrich, and Rob Lothian fell to bring the play to ten-handed.

Shahab Khan found a double with pocket aces against Zaher El-Kasse’s pocket kings. However, he would be eliminated in tenth place after Schick flopped a pair and improved to trips on the river. El Kasse was left with just 4,000 chips in the same hand. He fell in ninth and Mal Hagan soon after in eighth place. Dennis MacPherson and Keith Graham hit the rail after leaving the tournament five-handed. Pierre-Porter and Schick held a huge chip lead with 1,220,000 and 1,285,000 respectively. The next closest was Tong with 500,000.

Tong gained the chip lead after doubling through Schick with 1,100,000. Porter was next with 920,000, and play was down to four-handed as Teliani hit the rail. Her kings couldn’t fade Vu’s flush draw for her to exit with $3,870. Vu doubled with trips against Tong who had trips with a worse kicker. The short-stacked Tong fell in fourth place after his eights lost a race to ace-queen. Pierre-Porter found a double through Vu, leaving the players in close proximity chip-wise. The three players made a deal playing for just the trophy.

Schick fell soon after as his two over cards couldn’t make a pair. With the deal he gets $10,000. Pierre-Porter found back-to-back doubles to gain a 5:1 chip lead. Vu battled back but ultimately was sent home in second place after running queen-five into pocket jacks. He received $11,000 and Pierre-Porter took the trophy along with $10,125. Stay tuned for more coverage of the series throughout the week.