Lavallee leads WPT Festa al Lago final 11
‘I’m a bit nervous, I won’t lie.’Jason Lavallee is primarily a cash game player.
But the incredible run the 23-year-old Canadian pro is on at WPT Festa al Lago may go a long way towards convincing him to play more tournaments.
With just 11 players left in the hunt for one of six spots at the Festa final table, heading into the tournament’s second to last day Sunday at Bellagio in Las Vegas, the Montreal, Quebec native has built himself a massive chip lead.
This being his first realistic run at WPT glory, Lavallee admits he’s not 100% comfortable in the driver’s seat, but he also appears ready to accept whatever comes his way.
“I’m a bit nervous, I won’t lie, but at the same time, if I bust out, there’s not much I can do about it,” he said. “I try not to worry too much about the things that I can change and the things that I can’t change, I leave those up to the poker gods to decide.”
Regardless of his fatalist attitude, Lavallee still has his eyes firmly on the $1,218,225 first-place prize at Festa al Lago.
“I really want to win this tournament,” he said. “Top three won’t do.”
Lavellee started playing the game five years ago online, but has since made the transition to live poker.
He spent most of the summer playing $25/$50 No-Limit Hold’em at Bellagio before travelling the tournament circuit in Europe the past few months playing cash games and a few events.
“There’s more of a skill edge in cash games than tournaments,” he explained. “And it kind of sucks sometimes, schedule wise, to have sit there for eight hours, five days in a row.
Lavallee leads, but Deeb looms.
“In a cash game you have the liberty of playing 36 hours straight and then taking a week off or whatever you want to do. So for that reason, I prefer cash.”
Lavallee says he does enjoy the challenge of tournaments and the chance to switch it up every now and then, especially when things are going as well as they have at Festa al Lago.
Although, he understands tournament variance has two sides.
“I’ve been very fortunate to this point to win some big pots and pick up a few hands in the right spots,” he said. “But that could easily go against you. There are two really skilled players to my left, but because of their stacks, they are kind of handcuffed.
“If this was a cash game they could buy in for whatever they want and that game would be really tough for me. Now, because of this whole situation with the stacks, it’s a little bit easier for me.”
Lavallee will come into the play down to the final six with close to 4 million in chips and only the venerable Freddy Deeb even close.
The remainder of the final 11 includes Kido Pham, Tommy Vedes, Shawn Cunix, Larry Berg, Jason Burt, Richard Sciuto, Aaron Jones, Chris Bjorin, and Craig Crivello.
With such a huge chip lead, Lavallee feels relatively comfortable with his stack, but has no plans to play the bully Sunday.
“If I would have 20 to 25 big blinds I would be kind of handcuffed, and I wouldn’t be able to go after the blinds as much as I would like,” he said. “But the difference between 50 and 200 big blinds isn’t really that much, because even with 50 big blinds I would still cover everybody.
“The game plan doesn’t really change that much, I just have a little bit more pad to take some hits.”
To follow all the Festa al Lago action as they play down to the final table Sunday, click through to PokerListings’ Live Updates beginning at 12 p.m. PST.
Tags: poker
