Once the group had been reduced to a total of fifteen players, the true game began. The game of patience. For over an hour, everyone popped the clutch and coasted in neutral, playing as conservatively as possible, folding around and around as the blinds were shuffled from player to player. Almost no preflop shove was challenged, and any that were didn’t knock anyone out.  Everyone wanted to be in on the payout reserved for only 12 players, but no one wanted to fight for it. Indeed, at times it felt like the tournament would never end. And yet, whenever a deal was floated tentatively it was rejected by one player over and over, a non-starter. However, like all things do, this too came to an end. Unfortunately for Jessica Comeau and Vladislav Gulli it ended just a little too soon. The two to bubble today’s $100 + $10 Survivor were left […]

A champion has been declared in the $100 + $10 Megastack Turbo, Event #5 in the World Cup of Cards. After Robert Turcotte knocked out Nizar T when he hit a jack on the river, to pair up, and beat Nizar’s pair of eights, Robert and David Bonneau were left to battle it out alone. The duo engaged in an hour of back-and-forth heads up action where, initially, David looked dead in the water. When both players went all in, early on, David’s pocket fives   did not appear strong enough to beat Robert’s pair of sevens, but when he hit the on the turn, he lived to fight another hand. But Robert had lady luck on his side, and even though David took a substantial lead at one point, Robert remained cool and poised, grinding his way to victory. When the final hand came down, David went all in […]

Congratulations to Jazz Smith for winning Event #7 in the World Cup of Cards! It was a hard-fought contest between the two players, one with quite a few exciting back-and-forths. The lead passed between Andrew and Jazz more than once, but in the end it came down to one hand that determined the outcome of the tournament. Andrew: Jazz: Board: Jazz takes home the 1st place prize, the trophy, $2,522 and the glory! But a big shout-out goes to his very worthy opponent Andrew Dick, who was a hair away from winning the tournament more than once during heads up play. Andrew collected 8 bounties, so along with his 2nd place prize of $2,000 it was a very good day for both players. Well done gentlemen, we’ll see you next time.

After almost 9 hours of play and an ICM chop, the endurance and will to fight on at the final table was beginning to wear thin. However, over three successive hands, Stephane Gauthier came out of nowhere and eliminated all three of his opponents, one after another. Congratulations to Stephane for an excellent tournament! The hand that won him 1st place and the trophy is below, in which he pulled a flush on the river. Stephane defeated 2nd place finisher Christopher Turnbull. Christopher took home $2,695 and 10+ $100 bounty chips. However, as mentioned above, this was the third hand in a row won by Stephane, each of which was an all in. He previously defeated the 3rd place finisher Philip Schrier (who took home $2,035 + 2 $100 bounty chips) when Philip’s pocket pair of was routed by Stephane’s on a board. Stephane had also defeated the 4th place […]

After just more than eight hours of play we have crowned ourselves a winner. Congratulations go out to Jonathan Poissant for winning Event #3 in this year’s World Cup of Cards, the $100 + $10 8-Max Deepstack Re-entry. Jonathan will take home $2,110 for his win. Jonathan said something interesting as we set up the championship photo. He recounted to us that, while he works 6 out of 7 days this week, today was his day off! He decided he wanted to come to Playground to relax and have fun, which turned out to be a good decision. Champion Jonathan Poissant Jonathan won the tournament after only a few minutes of head-to-head play with Steve Khoury, who earned $1,884 for his 2nd place finish. The way that Jonathan took down the tournament win was actually a combination of two successive hands. The first one crippled Steve, a hand in which Steve’s two […]

A champion has been declared in the $150 + $15 Deepstack Turbo, Event #2 in the World Cup of Cards. After more than eight hours of play, including close to 90 minutes of back-and-forth heads up action between Christina Knot and Anh Nguyen, where both players were saved more than once by unlikely cards being dealt on the river, Christina, of Saint Hippolyte Quebec, finally prevailed. Anh went all in with and Christina wagered everything on . It looked like Anh might reign victorious, but the final hand was won on the final card when the board was dealt . As runner up, Anh’s share of the prize pool was $3,210! But the grand prize of $5,166 and a champion’s bragging rights go to Christina, who demonstrated poise and  perseverance throughout the event! Christina Knot  

The winner in the first event in the World Cup of Cards, the $400 + $40 Tag Team, is Team Vincenzo D’Elia! After approximately 90 minutes of heads up play (and three switches between tag team partners) the final hand was played by Miguel Goncalo (of Team Brigitte Metivier) and Anthony Meli (of team Vincenzo D’Elia). Both players felt they had worthy cards and jumped all in preflop. The board was dealt   , but unfortunately for Miguel his couldn’t beat Anthony’s . Team Brigitte Goncalo take home their ICM Chop of $7,710 (-$250) and 2nd place. Congratulations! However, an even bigger congratulations go out to Team Vince! Well done boys! You’ve truly earned your 1st place win as well as your prize of $7,415 + $1,000 (-$250), or $8,165!