Francois Billard takes down 2019 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS North America Main Event

After a three-way deal, the Canadian took home CA$961,400.

The Main Event at this year's North American stop of the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS attracted a total of 521 entries at the Playground Poker Club, and they created a prize pool of CA$5,210,000 with 63 players rewarded.

Many local professionals managed to reach the ITM, with the likes of Andrew Lam (63rd; CA$20,000), Tommy Nguyen (62nd; CA$20,000), Philippe D'Auteuil (47th; CA$25,000), Marc-Andre Ladouceur (46th; CA$25,000), Griffin Benger (39th; CA$25,000), or Mike McDonald (22nd; CA$30,000).

Other than them, many household names walked away with a nice consolation prize. Sergio Aido finished in 60th place, while Manig Loeser got 58th both for CA$20,000, Sam Grafton exited in 33rd place for CA$25,000, and Orpen Kisacikoglu in 26th for CA$30K.

Only six players returned for the day with Danick Landriault as the shortest stack. He couldn't get things going and busted in sixth place. He was followed by Paul Fontan, who left in fifth place after putting his last few big blinds into the middle.

Alexandros Kolonias managed to climb the latter, playing a passive style but eventually had to settle for fourth place.

After a 40-minute break, the final three players returned, to discuss a deal and they agreed to ICM chop with CA$212,370 extra for the winner. Thanks to the deal, Billard locked up CA$749,030, while Jouhkimainen CA$583,310 and Rabichow CA$578,990.

They kept playing for another hour until partypoker-pro Joni shoved his remaining stack and got called by the Billard in the big blind. Joni left in third place and left Kevin and Francois battle it out.

The latter started with a sizeable lead and was able to close out the tournament rather quickly. Billard walked away with a career-high CA$961,400 score, while Rabichow added CA$578,990 to his bankroll.

Final results

Place Player Country Prize (CAD) Prize(USD)
1st Francois Billard Canada $961,400* $715,414*
2nd Kevin Rabichow United States $578,990* $430,848*
3rd Joni Jouhkimainen Finland $583,310* $434,063*
4th Alexandros Kolonias Greece $370,000 $275,331
5th Paul Fontan Spain $300,000 $223,241
6th Danick Landriault Canada $250,000 $186,035
7th Ben Heath United Kingdom $200,000 $148,828
8th Ruben Perceval Canada $150,000 $111,621
9th Armin Rezaei Austria $100,000 $74,414