John Hashem is the 2019 SIGA Poker Champion
The final hand of the 2019 SIGA Poker Championship has been played, and all the chips are in a single stack. That stack belonged to Regina's John Hashem after he made his way through a field of 346 entries to claim the first place prize of $45,769.
As usual, it was a well attended affair right from the start. Day 1a saw a total of 146 entries, which was 13 more than the same flight the year before. A total of 40 players bagged stacks after Day 1a, with Josh Hopkins bagging the biggest stack at 272,000. The Day 1a field then took the day off while a new field hit the felt Saturday for Day 1b.
Day 1b saw a total of 200 entries try their hand. The tournament room was capped at a full 170 players for most of the late registration period, and there were fewer rebuys than expected leading to a lower total turnout for the second starting flight than in 2018, but that still put 346 total entries into the prize pool.
A total of 57 players bagged chips at the end of the second starting flight, with Dallas Larson ending in the lead with a massive stack of well over 400,000. That meant there were 97 players returning on Sunday for Day 2, and they'd be fighting for one of 51 shares of the $263,800 prize pool.
Day 2 started off at a rocket's pace, with just 80 players remaining after the first level of play. Hand for hand play started at the end of the fourth level of the day, and they were in the money before the end of that level. Angus McLeod was the unlucky bubble player after his kings were cracked by ace-five, and he was the last player to exit before the money.
Two former champions managed to make Day 2 of this year's field. 2017 Champion Trevor Norlander came into the second day with a short stack and couldn't quite manage to get into the money. 2018 champ Daniel Lefebvre had better luck, making it all the way to 23rd place for a score of $2,638.
A few other notables to make the money included M.A. Jeffery who managed a min-cash, and Skylar Kingdon, Ming Ashing, and Clint Cockburn who cashed for $1,979. Cashing at the $2,638 level were, in addition to Lefebvre, Harley Hudson, Connor Joinson and Caren Pfeif, while Adrian Baran and Kyle Woloshyn cashed for $4,089.
The ten handed final table was set before 8 p.m.
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ray Hallett | 980000 |
| 2 | Josh Hopkins | 570000 |
| 3 | Lyndon Knutson | 2325000 |
| 4 | Jason Topp | 1055000 |
| 5 | Kyle Stronski | 910000 |
| 6 | Bin Xu | 880000 |
| 7 | Dallas Larson | 660000 |
| 8 | Todd Derdall | 975000 |
| 9 | Warren McCallum | 1015000 |
| 10 | John Hashem | 990000 |
Bin Xu was the first to exit the final table when he ran jacks into John Hashem's kings. Next Todd Derdall got his money in with king-ten only to run into Warren McCallum's kings. Hashem continued his run with a double knockout when he called the smaller stack shoves of Dallas Larson and Jason Topp with pocket tens and held to bring the game six handed.
Ray Hallett was the next player to run into a John Hashem pocket pair and bust. This time, Hashem had fives and held against the suited gapper over cards of Hallett. Stronski was the next to fall when he shoved a suited king-jack but got called by the suited ace-four of Lyndon Knutson and couldn't find any help on the board.
That brought the game to a four-handed battle between Prince Albert and Regina, with Josh Hopkins and Warren McCallum representing Prince Albert, and Hashem and Knutson representing Regina. Josh Hopkins got the nickname "The Cat" after surviving through doubles multiple times four handed. He eventually ended his run in fourth though after he finally got it in bad with a suited king-queen against the suited ace-jack of McCallum and failed to get there.
Warren McCallum was the next to exit when he shoved with jack-ten into the big slick of Hashem. Hashem held to get heads-up against his fellow Regina friend Lyndon Knutson. The heads up match only lasted a couple of hands until Knutson shoved with an ace and Hashem woke up with jacks and held for the win.
Full Payout List:
| Player | Place | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 51 | Roi Perran | $1,253.00 |
| 50 | Darryl McKay | $1,253.00 |
| 49 | Tony Kowalczyc | $1,253.00 |
| 48 | Carlos Prevost | $1,253.00 |
| 47 | Sheldon Birkeland | $1,253.00 |
| 46 | Cody Baragar | $1,253.00 |
| 45 | Mike Smith | $1,583.00 |
| 44 | M.A. Jeffery | $1,583.00 |
| 43 | Rose Ann Iron | $1,583.00 |
| 42 | Jim Loudon | $1,583.00 |
| 41 | Rob Deslauriers | $1,583.00 |
| 40 | Francis Iron | $1,583.00 |
| 39 | Lee Symak | $1,583.00 |
| 38 | Dale Wasko | $1,583.00 |
| 37 | Blaine Holdner | $1,583.00 |
| 36 | Clint Cockburn | $1,979.00 |
| 35 | Jason Linklater | $1,979.00 |
| 34 | Wes Gelowitz | $1,979.00 |
| 33 | Skylar Kingdon | $1,979.00 |
| 32 | Ming Ashing | $1,979.00 |
| 31 | Debra Sanderson | $1,979.00 |
| 30 | Lawrence Keshane | $1,979.00 |
| 29 | Allan Lebiszczak | $1,979.00 |
| 28 | Wayne Blyth | $1,979.00 |
| 27 | Caren Pfeif | $2,638.00 |
| 26 | Justin Keller | $2,638.00 |
| 25 | Joseph Dumas | $2,638.00 |
| 24 | Vaughn Lafontaine | $2,638.00 |
| 23 | Daniel Lefevbre | $2,638.00 |
| 22 | James Hart | $2,638.00 |
| 21 | Mike Fenrich | $2,638.00 |
| 20 | Connor Joinson | $2,638.00 |
| 19 | Harley Hudson | $2,638.00 |
| 18 | Cal Scott | $3,298.00 |
| 17 | Mike Karpinka | $3,298.00 |
| 16 | Larry Iron | $3,298.00 |
| 15 | Kyle Woloshyn | $4,089.00 |
| 14 | Adrian Baran | $4,089.00 |
| 13 | David Templeton | $4,089.00 |
| 12 | Tony Meredith | $4,880.00 |
| 11 | Travis Williams | $4,880.00 |
| 10 | Bin Xu | $4,880.00 |
| 9 | Todd Derdall | $6,199.00 |
| 8 | Jason Topp | $7,782.00 |
| 7 | Dallas Larson | $9,629.00 |
| 6 | Ray Hallett | $11,739.00 |
| 5 | Kyle Stronski | $14,113.00 |
| 4 | Josh Hopkins | $16,751.00 |
| 3 | Warren McCallum | $20,708.00 |
| 2 | Lyndon Knutson | $30,997.00 |
| 1 | John Hashem | $45,769.00 |
That's a wrap for the 2019 SIGA Poker Championship. Stay tuned to PokerNews Canada for all your news from the Canadian poker scene.