Kyle Menard Wins Super MILLION$ For $628,892 at the First Attempt

Do you believe in beginner’s luck? Kyle Menard is hardly a beginner, but he is in terms of playing the GGPoker Super MILLION$.

Menard decided to play his first $10,300 Super MILLION$ on November 8. He navigated his way through a star-studded field to reach the final table, which took place on November 10. He not only reached the final table but went on to win the event for a cool $628,892. Here’s how he did it.

Menard Starts Final Table With the Chip Lead

This week’s Super MILLION$ featured a $3 million guaranteed prize pool. More than $2.33 million of that prize pool was prizes at the nine-handed final table.

Stephen Chidwick was the first finalist to collect some prize money. Chidwick sat down at the final table with the shortest stack, one with under 10 big blinds. Try as he might, Chidwick couldn’t find a double up. He came unstuck when Philippe D’Auteuil set him all-in for his last 4.7 big blinds from the small blind. Chidwick called with Ts-9h and was against Ac-9d. A seven-high board sent Chidwick to the showers.

Estonia’s “PidrPan” busted in eighth-place for $84,638, the last prize not to be six-figures. He min-raised to 280,000 under the gun with Kh-Qd. Timothy Adams, at his first Super MILLION$ final table called in the big blind with Ad-6d. Adams checked the 3d-9d-Kc flop, PidrPan bet 245,100 and Adams checked-raised to 773,240. PidrPan called. The turn was the Td and Adams checked again before calling when PidrPan jammed all-in. The river was the inconsequential Js, game over for PidrPan.

$112,719 and seventh-place went to “goldfish55”. He busted during the 80,000/160,000/20,000a level. D’Auteuil opened with a raise to 320,000 with Ac-Qs and called when goldfish55 moved all-in for 834,624. That shove was made with 8s-8h. The board ran Kd-5c-Td-5h-Jd to gift D’Auteuil a Broadway straight.

Menard was now third in chips with a 5,006,652 stack. He only trailed Adams (5,598,296) and D’Auteuil (8,113,445).

Action-Packed Short-Handed Play

The final six players didn’t mess around playing tight; they went for the win. Brazil’s “fab5” crashed out in sixth trying to double up. “iStayOn5” open-shoved from the small blind with Ah-Qc. Fab5 called off his last nine big blinds with Ac-7s and lost when the board ran 8h-Ad-Qd-2c-As.

Adams was next to fall despite being the favorite for glory. His demise came at the hands of iStayOn5 in a massive pot. iStayOn5 raised to 550,00 with Ac-Ks and Adams three-bet to 2,250,000, more than half his stack, with Qd-Jd. The rest of Adams’ stack went into the middle when iStayOn5 shoved all-in. The 8,811,592 pot slid the way of iStayOn5 when the five community cards ran Kc-4c-3d-4d-8h.

Menard climbed another rung of the payout ladder when iStayOn5 crashed out in fourth. It is safe to say it was a cooler that dispatched him. His chips went into the middle with Ah-Qs against Eelis Parssinen’s dominating Ad-Kd. What a cruel setup four-handed. The 7s-As-Kc-6c-8h board gave iStayOn5 no reprieve and he exited with a $266,248 score.

Heads-Up Set, Menard Leads

Pocket kings held for Menard against Parssinen’s ace-nine to earn a timely double. It gave Menard more than 8.6 million chips and plenty of breathing room. It proved a key hand because it allowed Menard to reach heads-up.

D’Auteuil fell by the wayside in third, a finish worth $354,582. He made a move with Ts-9s on a 7s-9h-Ah-8c board only to discover Menard held 8s-8d for a set. The 7c improved Menard to a full house and gifted him the chip lead.

Heads-up didn’t last too long at all and it was Menard who emerged from battle unscathed. With blinds at 150,000/300,000/35,000a, Menard raised to 750,000, Parssinen called and the flop fell 9c-Qh-6s. Parssinen check-called a 785,000 bet from his sole opponent. The 4s turn saw Parssinen check-call a 3,140,000 bet. The river was the 3c and Parssinen check-called again, this time an all-in bet. He turned over Qd-7s for top pair, but Menard had him out-kicked with Qs-Jd.

Super MILLION$ Special Edition Final Table Results

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Kyle Menard	Canada	$628,892
2	Eelis Parssinen	Finland	$472,222
3	Philippe D’Auteuil	Canada	$354,582
4	iStayOn5	Canada	$266,248
5	Timothy Adams	Canada	$199,920
6	fab5	Brazil	$150,116
7	golfdish55	Canada	$112,719
8	PidrPan	Estonia	$84,638
9	Stephen Chidwick	United Kingdom	$63,552

Matthew Pitt

If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.

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