LIVE EVENTS

Nadir Lalji had a strong showing this afternoon. But his run came to an end in fourth place, earning him $540 for his efforts.

Following Lalji’s elimination, a three-way battle between Robert Mitchell, Kristi Newman and Alexandre Labonte ensued. These three players put some determined poker on display, as they managed their chips carefully. Labonte was able to chip up from one big blind to a stack of over 300k before the cards turned against him. Labonte was sent to the rail after having his aces cracked and then running into aces with a pocket pair of his own. Labonte will take home $710 for his third place finish.

Play continues heads up between Kristi Newman and Robert Mitchell.

Pierre Morin had a great run this afternoon, and had a lot of fun along the way, but his run has ended in fifth place. Morin will collect $410 for his final table appearance.

There was a flurry of action in the lead up to the latest break, which sent three more players to the rail. Stuart Kerridge and Craig Crane were sent packing thanks to a double bustout at the hands of the new chip leader, Robert Mitchel. Kerridge and Crane will collect $180 and $230, respectively, for their strong showings. Former chip leader Alexandre Carpentier was eliminated shortly after in sixth place. Carpentier’s final table appearance earned him $310.

Robert Mitchell now holds the chip lead at the final table. His 35-big-blind stack puts him well ahead of his nearest rival.

Following the bubble deal, it did not take long for the final table to arrive.

Mario Savard was eliminated in tenth place, but he benefited from the bubble deal to collect $90 in addition to any bounty chips he pocketed along the way.

The first orbit of play at the final produced the next elimination. Bill Kontaratos was sent to the rail in ninth place, he will collect $130 for his final table appearance.

The remaining players are now in the money!

Following several rounds of hand-for-hand play, the players agreed to remove $10 from each prize to grant a tenth place payout of $90 for the next player eliminated. Without the need for a money bubble, play continues, with the final table just around the corner.

Today’s action-inducing format has delivered as promised, bringing the field down to the final 15 players after only 12 levels of play. The top nine will make the money, so the tension will only mount from here.

Alexandre Carpentier has a hefty lead at this point, with a stack of roughly 59 big blinds.

The chip counts of the remaining players are as follows.

Play has just resumed in level 7, following the end of the late-registration and re-entry period. A late rush to the cashier brought the total number of entries up to 66, putting 1.3 million in chips in play. The healthy turnout allowed this event to surpass the prize pool guarantee of $5,000, with $6,600 in prizes and bounties up for grabs.

Several players got off to a fast start this afternoon, but they all trail Marc Lavergne, the current chip leader. Lavergne is sitting comfortably with roughly 112 big blinds in his possession, approaching triple the current chip average.

As the timer winds down on the sixth level of play, things are still heating up. The pots are getting bigger, as a steady stream of re-entries has helped boost the number of chips in play. Players have until 2:15pm to (re-)enter.

There are still 39 players in contention out of 60 total entries, which means that this event has surpassed the prize pool guarantee.

Here is a look at the action from level 5:

With three levels of play in the books, the Short Deck Bounty Re-entry is still gathering steam. New players are filing in, and the ice has been broken on the re-entries. There remains slightly more than an hour left to (re-)enter this event. The late registration period ends at 2:15pm.

For those already in their seats, adjusting to this action-packed format will be the key to success. Without the small cards in the deck, familiar equity calculations will have to be revisited, and players will have to embrace a little more variance than they are accustomed to in standard hold’em tournaments.

For anyone who jumps in to the action in level 4, a starting stack provides nearly 67 big blinds, more than enough to get the hang of this format before the pressure of the blinds becomes an issue.

Event #15 of the World Cup of Cards, the $75 + $10 + $25 NL Short Deck Hold’em Bounty Re-entry, has begun! 

This single-day event guarantees a prize pool of at least $5,000. This tournament offers an interesting twist on the familiar bounty format. As a Short Deck event, it will be played with a 36-card deck, the decks in use are missing all 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s. In Short Deck Hold’em, it is possible to make an A-6-7-8-9 straight and a flush is ranked higher than a full house. This hold’em variant makes for a lot of action and has been steadily gaining popularity throughout the poker world. 

Players will start with 20,000 in chips to play through as many 20-minute levels as needed to determine a winner. Play will be 9-handed throughout the day. The final table will begin when nine players remain. 

This is a re-entry event with unlimited re-entries permitted during the late registration period, which will end at 2:15pm.

Good luck to all!