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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 on the river. Needless to say, Piunno was ecstatic to hit that river, and he shouted out in joy, loud enough for all to hear.

There were many premium hands dealt at the final table, which led to an abundance of action and big pots. The chip lead changed hands many times between Trevor Adams, Christian Rho, and Greg Stringer.

Heads-up play between Christian Rho and Greg Stringer made for an epic battle. Stringer started with a small advantage, but the chip lead went back and forth several times. Stringer eventually strung together several winning hands, but Rho never gave up. On the final hand, Stringer had Rho covered. When Stringer shoved, Rho made the call.

Stringer:

Rho:

The flop was a good one for Stringer’s pocket pair. The was a great turn card for Rho, giving him outs to a flush and a straight in addition to his pair outs with a live ace. But, thanks to the river, the pair of tens stood tall and gave Stringer the win. Congratulations!

Strangers in the Night Champion: Greg Stringer, $14,362

Last hand of play:

Second place: Christian Rho, $10,380

The Final Table:

The tournament is now heads-up between Christian Rho and Greg Stringer. Stringer has a slight chip lead over Rho but Rho keeps fighting back and winning hands. It looks like it is going to be a great heads-up match!

Pavel Covaliov did his best tonight but he never picked up cards when he really needed them and had to watch others fight it out while he was laddering up the pay jumps.

He finally picked up and moved all in, but once again it was Christian Rho making the call, this time with , and the race was on. The board ran out and that brought Covaliov’s tournament life to an end.

Third place: Pavel Covaliov, $6,670

Trevor Adams played a solid game and ran great at the start of the final table. With the momentum he was building, it appeared early on that he might make it to champion position. Things changed after losing some key hands, so he decided to put his chips in with , giving him a gutshot draw on a flop. Christian Rho made the call with for the nut flush draw (and an overcard). The turn was a brick but the river completed his flush to eliminate Adams.

Rho is chipping up nicely.

Fourth place: Trevor Adams, $4,670

Daniel Gennings lost some ground along the way and was the second shortest stack when play became six-handed at the break. When he picked up an ace, he pulled the trigger. Timing though was not the best for him.

Gennings:
Covaliov:

Gennings walked into a pocket pair and received no help on the board.

Fifth place: Daniel Gennings, $3,580

Xiao Dian Wen started the day as the shortest stack and was never able to spin it up. He was just eliminated in sixth place.

Sixth place: Xiao Dian Wen, $2,980

Here are the updated six-handed chip counts at the first break:

After having lost a good percentage of his stack a few hands earlier, Andre Piunno picked up and went all in, but the timing could not have been worse for him as Greg Stringer had and when the board ran out , Piunno’s run came to an end in seventh place.

Seventh place: Andre Piunno, $2,470

A little earlier on Adam Hussen exited in eighth.

Eighth place, Adam Hussen, $1,970

Andre Piunno tried to put one through but Greg Stringer had the goods. Stringer had and hit top pair on the flop. Piunno had and when he hit the on turn, all of the sudden his confidence increased. The river was the , making two pair for Stringer and when Piunno fired away again, it was an easy call for Stringer who pulled in tons of chips.

Piunno is now playing a short stack.

What will be probably go down as the hand of the night, three players just picked up premium hands and all the chips went in pre-flop.

Trevor Adams:
Danny Knafo:
Andre Piunno:

The dealer put out on the flop and both Knafo and Piunno felt their hearts sink as Adams flops a set of kings. Low and behold, Knafo hits the on the turn but of course was still behind Adams. All would change when the dealer peeled the on the river and Andre Piunno screamed in jubilation as he started running around the next table, celebrating while in total disbelief that he just hit top set on the river after already having watched both of his opponents make a set. It was a “wow” moment for sure!

Playground does have a heart defibrillator on hand in the room, “just in case” during a moment like this.

Knafo’s stack was covered and he becomes the first casualty of the final table, exiting in ninth place for $1,480.

Ninth place: Danny Knafo, $1,480

The chips went in pre-flop while Trevor Adams was still on an adrenaline rush from his earlier hand with pocket kings. He made the call this time with . Daniel Gennings was holding and when the dealer flopped the , it looked like Adams was poised to double up against Gennings. The turn however changed the direction of things as now Gennings had top set over the set of nines for Adams. The turn was of no consequence and Gennings doubles-up.

With already loads of chips in the middle on a board, Andre Piunno made a river bet of 2,000,000 chips, sending Trevor Adams deep into the tank. Finally the clock was called on Adams and the floor gave him 30 seconds to act or his hand would be ruled dead. With 10 seconds left to go on the clock, he threw a chip into the middle to signal a call. Piunno mucked and Adams showed .