Event #18 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards was the $100 + $10 Playground 100, the most affordable multi-day tournament of the series. There were five starting flights over three days and in the end, it attracted a total of 743 entries, bringing the guaranteed $50,000 prize pool all the way up to $71,871, outstanding for a such an affordable buy-in! Play on the final table favoured the big stacks, as eliminations resulted nearly every time a tournament life was on the line. Day 2 chip leader Loai El Ayday lost a key hand when only three players remained when he put his money in good and lost on the river to Sebastien “Seabass” Drolet-Poitras. When heads-up play commenced between Drolet-Poitras and Hamzah Ozor, Drolet-Poitras had a marginal lead over Ozor, one that he would not relinquish.  On the final hand of play, the chips went in on a […]

Event #19 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards was the $300 +$30 PL Omaha 3 Lives Re-entry tournament that featured a $10,000 guaranteed prize pool. When the late registration period came to a close, there were a total of 65 entries, allowing the prize pool to swell to $18,915. All nine players on the final table would be in the money, with a min-cash in ninth paying out $570, and $4,905 in the top spot for the event champion. The night was action packed as players had “three life chips”, allowing them to choose whether or not they wanted to start the tournament with a full 30,000 chips stack, or, only use once life chip at a time, each with a value of 10,000 chips. By the time the first break came around, Ayana Massa had a substantial lead over the rest of the pack but later on she […]

Event #17 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards was the $100 + $60 + $500 Big Bounty Re-entry tournament. This tournament was not for the faint at heart as it featured non-stop all in action right from the get go. There was a $30,000 guaranteed prize pool and when the late registration and re-entry period came to a close, there were a total of 137 entries which brought the prize pool to $79,734! This was made up of $11,234 in payouts to the top seven places, and another $68,500 in $500 bounties. By the first break, local Tu Kham Tran had climbed to the top of the leaderboard and already had five bounty chips. As the night moved on, the lead changed and it was Dilo Hussein who now held the top spot, with more than four times the average stack. As a matter of interest, five of players […]

Event #12 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards, the $150 + $25 Strangers in the Night, was a great success, attracting a total of 525 entries from four starting flights. The tournament buy-in established prize pool, while the additional $25 from each entry was given to the Strangers in the Night charity foundation. That means that $13,125 was raised for charity!  The players who made the final table were each guaranteed a payout of at least four figures, but all eyes were set on the champion’s trophy and the $14,362 prize that came along with it.  There were some wild hands that played out early on at the final table, including a three-way all in that saw Trevor Adams with , Danny Knafo with , and Andre Piunno with . Adams hit a king on the flop; Knafo hit a queen on the turn, and Piunno hit an ace […]

Event #5 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards, the $100 + $20 + $100 6-Max 50/50 Bounty Re-entry, had a total of 209 entries. The prize pool guarantee of $20,000 was more than doubled, with $40,546 ($19,646 in payouts plus $20,900 in bounties) awarded.  The evening was action-packed and full of excitement as players hunted for those $100 bounty chips. The chip lead changed hands many times throughout the evening. Once the money bubble burst, the eliminations happened in rapid succession until the 7-handed final table was formed. On the final table the blinds were starting to get large, and six of the seven players had almost identical stacks. Because of this dynamic, the players agreed to an ICM chop that left an additional $835 for the eventual tournament champion. The following table lists the ICM payouts. As soon as play resumed, there was a series of bustouts. Eventually, […]

Event #3 of the World Cup of Cards, the $150 + $15 PL Omaha 3 Lives Re-entry, featured a $7,000 prize pool guarantee and unlimited re-entries during the late registration period.  When that moment arrived, there were a total of 69 entries, including 15 re-entries, which allowed the prize pool to surpass the guarantee and award a total of $9,679 in prize money to the top nine players. At the final table, Adam Bogach was the first to hit the rail, finishing in ninth place for $300. Then Joshua Royal Peteigney finished in eighth place for $390. Chris Arvanitis he ended up leaving in seventh place for $520, followed by James Reinhart, who finishde in sixth place and collected $680 for his efforts. In fifth place was Brian Morgan, scoring $890 to add to his weekend winnings. Once play went four-handed, the players agreed to an ICM chop of the […]

Players had a great dose of fun today playing this great “shootout” variant where a player had to win their initial table in order to make it into the second round where the two final tables would play down to a winner. There were 96 entries in total. Locals Rong Xu and Nicolas Majdalani made it to the heads-up match, and when Majdalani picked up a pocket pair he decided to open shove, a bet that was met by a call. Majdalani: Xu: The board ran , and with Majdalani’s pocket sixes holding, Event #2 of the WCC crowned a champion: Nicolas Majdalani. Event #2 Champion: Nicolas Majdalani, $2,841   Second place, Rong Xu, $2,550 Last hand of play: