Event #22, the $100 + $20 + $100 8-Max 50/50 Bounty Re-entry, wrapped up the 2020 World Cup of Cards in exciting fashion. The prize pool guarantee of $20,000 was inflated to $25,762 by the massive turnout of 273 entries. The top 35 players would make it in the money with a grand prize of $5,632 for the winner. The evening was fast-moving and action-packed as players hunted for $100 bounty chips. The chips flew throughout the night, as the leaders shifted after every break. Once the field reached the final table, play slowed significantly as the stakes grew. Mykyta Kurilenko was the first to go after the final three reached an ICM deal. He finished third for $3,815. This left Philippe Belley and Guowei Hu to fight for the additional $607. The final hand saw Hu shove with Belley called with . The dealer flopped to Belley’s delight. The turn […]

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 #21 of the World Cup of Cards, the $100 + $10 Crazy Pineapple 8-Max Re-entry, was an action-packed and fun-filled affair. Drawing a turnout that made a total of 90 entries, this single-day event easily surpassed the prize pool guarantee of $5,000 to award $8,730 in prizes to the top 12 players. The action got off to a fast start this afternoon and rarely showed signs of slowing down. The chips made their way around the felts quickly, especially in the early levels before the end of the late registration and re-entry period as many players took advantage of the structure to fire additional bullets. Mario Savard dominated the field through the first two breaks with a massive chip lead, but he ran out of steam and gave way to this event’s eventual champion, Sabin Levesque. Levesque maintained one of the largest stacks in play for most of the […]

The Playground 1000 was the marquee event of the World Cup of Cards 2020: biggest buy-in, biggest 1st prize ($89,750) and second biggest guarantee ($400,000). The event attracted a vast crowd that put in 464 entries, forming a total prize pool of $450,080. After three Day 1s, 186 Day 2 qualifiers were assembled in the tournament hall to play another 12 levels during which the money bubble would be reached. At 59 players, one shy of the money, it seemed like Earth’s rotation came to a halt, as the event played hand-for-hand for about two hours. When the bubble finally burst, the pace of eliminations sped up greatly and by the end of the day, only 25 players were still in contention for the title. Marc-André Yelle, who rocked Day 2 like a champion, eventually let go of the driver’s seat midway through Day 3, to the hands of Bill […]

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 #15 of the World Cup of Cards, the $75 + $10 + $25 NL Short Deck Hold’em Bounty Re-entry, provided an exciting afternoon of action for a boisterous field of players. This event took in 66 entries, which was more than enough to surpass the prize pool guarantee of $5,000. Those in attendance clearly enjoyed the format, making this single-day tournament a fun-filled affair. Chips were flying throughout most of the afternoon, as players tried to accumulate as many bounty chips as possible. But the dynamics changed entirely at the final table. When it came down to the nine finalists, the big pay jumps became much more enticing than the bounty chips and everyone tightened their ranges accordingly. In the end, it came down to Robert Mitchell and Kristi Newman after 23 levels of play. The two were separated by only one big blind, but their heads-up battle only […]

The $100 + $15 +$50 8-Max Bounty Re-entry was a great success. The evening began with a rush of entries and once late registration was closed, there were a total of 339 entries to increase the $20,000 guarantee to $32,374 and include the top 43 in the money. The field was reduced fairly quickly as players took an aggressive approach in hopes of collecting as many $50 bounty chips as possible. Janet Slaughter took the early chip lead and while she fell behind after the second break, she later rejoined the leaderboard and eventually made it to the final table. Will Johnston and Tony Capone also frequented the leader board throughout the night. The first four eliminations at the final table happened almost immediately after forming. Eddie Daldalian was the next to go in fifth place for a cool $2,090. Pengyu Yu was eliminated in fourth place to be awarded […]

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 #13 of the World Cup of Cards, the $150 + $15 Seniors’ Event, was more popular than anyone anticipated, bringing out a field that made a total of 170 entries to this single-day event. The huge turnout built a prize pool that more than doubled the $10,000 guarantee, putting up $24,735 in prize money to be shared between the top 22 players. The action kept up a steady pace throughout the afternoon, with only a relatively short lull for the money bubble. Once the top 22 players made the money, the bustouts piled up quickly and brought about the final table within one level of play. At the final table, the stacks were relatively short, but the players showed their grit and determination by patiently waiting for the right spots. Eventually, when the field counted five players, they agreed to an ICM chop of the remaining prize pool. From […]

The $200 + $20 Grand Prix Canada was the marquee event of the 2020 World Cup of Cards, featuring a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool. This epic event was presented in conjunction with partypoker LIVE and five online starting flights were presented on partypoker. Along with the 10 live Day 1s at Playground, this edition of the Grand Prix Canada collected 2,990 entries, which was more than enough to surpass the massive prize pool guarantee.  In all, 410 players advanced stacks to Day 2 and reached the money. Day 2 was a frantic affair that took the qualifying players down to the final 16 in about 11 hours of play.  Day 3 also got off to a fast start, with tournament lives at risk from the very first hand of play. The final table arrived quickly and put some high-level poker on display, as the finalists demonstrated great skill and determination. […]