LIVE EVENTS

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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 flop. Drolet-Poitras flopped two pair with and was up against Ozor’s flush draw. Thanks to the turn and river, Drolet-Poitras’s hand held up to give him the victory. Congratulations!

Playground 100 Champion: Sebastien “Seabass” Drolet-Poitras, $13,451

Second Place: Hamzah Ozor, $9,400

Last hand of play:

After losing El Ayday in third place, the tournament is heads-up between Seabass Drolet-Poitras and Hamzah Ozor. The players have decided to play without antes during the heads-up battle. Seabass has the lead over Ozor, the stacks are as follows:

• Seabass: 8,825,000 chips (35 big blinds)
• Ozor: 6,035,000 (24 big blinds)

They are playing for $13,451 in first place and $9,400 in second.

Loia El Ayday was the chip leader coming into Day 3. He played well and took a few players out on the final table but also lost a few hands along the way.

After his stack took a hit, he put his money in good when he was called by Seabass (Drolet-Poitras).

El Ayday:
Drolet-Poitras:

El Ayday had Drolet-Poitras clearly dominated and all was looking good for him on the flop and turn, but the river made a pair for Drolet-Poitras, sendinmg El Ayday to the tournament desk to collect his payout slip.

Third Place: Loai El Ayday, $6,010

Blair Miller was in Montreal to play some poker and have some fun. He stayed away from getting in trouble on the final table today and watched others bust out while he kept moving up in the pay jumps. As his stack was blinding down, he pushed his chip[s forward when he picked up an ace, and was called by Loai El Ayday who also had an ace.

Miller:
El Ayday:

Miller had no help on the board and exited in fourth place.

Fourth Place: Blair Miller, $4,370

Jean-Pascal played a great game and had a solid Day 2, finishing the day second in chips. He was a serious contender for the champion trophy but ran into a few bad hands today on Day 3 that eroded his chip stack. After losing ground, he moved all in with the last of his chips and was looked up by Ozor who has been running strong on the final table.

Gauthier:
Ozor:

Not only was Ozor way ahead of Gauthier, when the dealer fanned out the flop, Gauthier was now almost drawing dead. The turn and river were bricks and Gauthier’s day came to an end.

Fifth Place: Jean-Pascal Gauthier, $3,370

Christien Beaudoin was playing a short stack all night long and he did a good job in being able to ladder up the pay jumps. When he finally picked up an ace he decided that it was time to do it and he ripped it in. He received a call from Ozor.

Beaudoin:
Ozor:

Beaudoin was out in front and stayed that way on the   flop and turn. It all changed on the river, ending his run in sixth place.

Sixth place: Christien Beaudoin, $2,760

The players have just had their first break of the night. Here are the updated chip counts:

Billy Granofsky started Day 3 with less than 10 big blinds (715,000 chips) and put his money in good earlier on. He was poised for a double up when his ace-nine and was called bu Hamzah Ozor with queen-nine. It all changed though when the board ran out with all spades and the pot was chopped. Needless to say, he wasn’t delighted to see the last spade hit the river.

He just shoved his last 450,000 chips and found flat-calls by both Christien Beaudoin and Hamzah Ozor. The flop fell   and it went check-check between Beaudoin and Ozor. On the turn both players checked again. When the hit the river, Hamzah fired 200,000 and Beaudoin folded.

Hamzah:
Granofsky:

It just wasn’t meant to be for Granofsky who made a pair on the turn but lost to Ozor’s rivered straight.

7th Place: Billy Granofsky, $2,270

Marc Bourgeois started Day 3 with just over 12 bigs and he just had a small mis-click when J-P Gauthier had raised to 200,000 and Bourgeois called. Thinking that he was covered, he opened his hand, . The issue was, he still had about 80,000 left behind so the floor ruled that his hand was .live but that he was not all in. On the he ripped in his last 80,000 and J-P Gauthier snap-called with . The turn was an interesting card as both players were now open-ended but of course Bourgeois was drawing to the higher straight. The river was a brick and Bourgeois leaves in eighth place.

8th Place: Marc Bourgeois, $1,810

Yannick Labattaglia is a very experienced and accomplished tournament player, having had multiple success over the years both live as well as on the virtual felt. He came into Day 3 with the second shortest stack (615,000 chips, 7.7 big binds) and he had managed to secure an early double-up with pocket jacks vs. the pocket nine’s of Loai El Ayday.

A little while later Labattaglia opened with ace-queen and was three-bet all in for 475,000 with pocket jacks which he called. Labattaglia hit his queen but his opponent made a set of jacks and Labattagalia’s stack took a hit. A few hands later after having lost a good portion of his stack, he moved all in with but this time the timing was off as he was called by Hamzah Ozor with . He received no help from the board run-out and was sent to the tournament desk to pick up his pay slip.

9th Place: Yannick Labattaglia. $1,360

With the elimination of Christopher Lau in 10th place for $1,360, the nine-handed final table has been formed. Here are the nine finalists in order of seating position:

Day 3 of Event #18 has just began and has already seen the first bustout of the evening. Ten players have returned for Day 3 action and on the very first hand of play, Christopher Lau picked up and moved all in for 740,000 chips (9 big blinds) and was called by Hamzah Ozor holding and a stack of 1,880,000 (23.5 big blinds).

The flop came and with Ozor hitting his queen on the flop, Lau becomes the first casualty of Day 3, and the final table has now been formed.

10th Place: Christopher Lau, $1,360