LIVE EVENTS

Day 1B of Event #18 of the 2020 World Cup of Cards, the $100 + $10 Playground 100, attracted a total of 116 runners of which the top 12 bagged their stacks to move forward to Day 2. It is the most affordable multi-day tournament of the World Cup of Cards and there is a guaranteed $50,000 prize pool that may end up growing even higher.

The play was sure and steady throughout the flight as one by one, players were sent to the rail. Roy Rochette had the early chip lead but did not make it to the end. Eric Levesque then jumped ahead of the pack and held on to the top spot in the final leg, until he got into a hand and flopped two pair against Jeremi Kielian who rivered a set of jacks. Levesque was still able to bag 219,00 chips however it is Jeremi Kielian who bagged the lead with 356,000 chips. He is followed in second place by Piotr Wielopolski, with 339,00 chips, courtesy of a straight flush that he turned when the tournament was on the bubble.

After the eliminations of the following four players there now only 16 remaining on two tables:

• Roger Boyer
• Jared McDonald
• Marc-Antoine Plaisance
• Andrew Delaney

With only eight more bustouts to go before the players are in the money and bag for Day 2, Eric Levesque has a solid lead with 306,000 chips, equal to 61 big blinds.

The top stacks in play are as follows:

Brigitte Korak may be a petite woman but make no mistake, she doesn’t like to get pushed around. After the mini-battle against Eric Levesque just a few hands prior, this time when action folded to Levesque and he put in a min-raise to 8,000, she replied with an all in shove. Levesque laughed, Korak laughed, the table laughed, and Korak picked up some of the chips that she lost to Levesque earlier on.

Meanwhile Levesque reports that he busted a player when the player open shoved and he was holding pocket jacks. Then an epic hand took place when the chips went in against Andrew Delaney when Levesque had pocket kings and Delaney had pocket queens. To add to the excitement, Delaney had flopped a set of queens only to then have Levesque turn a set of kings.

It appears that Levesque is now in the lead and with a break about to come up, a new leaderboard will be posted shortly.

With 24 players left in the game, only one half will bag for Day 2.

Action folded to Eric Levesque on the button who bumped it up from 4,000 to 8,500. In the small blind, Brigitte Korak three-bet to 25,000 and the big blind folded. Without hesitation, Levesque then four-bet all in. Korak asked for a count and the dealer cut the chips which added up to 87,500 chips. Korak tanked for a bit and then let go of her hand.

Levesque showed a deuce as he picked up an additional 33,000 chips to add to his stack.

With only 32 players left on the four remaining tables and with the top 12 bagging their chips to move on to Day 2, there now just 20 bustouts left to go to bring Day 1B to a conclusion. With the blinds now at 1,200/2,400, there will be a lot of pressure put onto the short stacks left in play.

These are some of the 32 souls still battling away:

There are only 38 players left in the running with the top 12 moving on to Day 2, meaning there is still a lot of poker to be played tonight. With 2,320,000 chips in play, the average stack is currently 61,000 (38 big blinds). Two players have leaped far ahead of the rest of the field; Francis Larose is in the top spot, playing a stack of 158,600 chips, good for 99 big blinds. He is followed closely in second by Jared McDonald, with a stack of 154,000 chips (96 big blinds).

The top stacks in play are as follows:

Late registration and re-entry has now closed and the total number of entries reached 116 ( including 21 re-entries), putting a total of 2,320,000 chips into play in Day 1B. The top 12 finishers will bag their chips to move forward to Day 2.

The average chip stack is just under 30K and the current leader is Roy Rochette. Rochette is playing a stack of 84,875 chips, equal to 170 big blinds.

The top stacks in play are as follows: