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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 Kontaratos, who in turn hogged it until the ICM chop was agreed on. Yelle and Kontaratos, along with Noeung Troeung and Duff Charette, each secured between $43K and $60K and the foursome continued to rub shoulders for an extra $10,000 to the winner.

Yelle went out, then Bill after losing a 20M flip. Charette was now heads-up against Troeung who relentlessly chased him out of pots until Charette decided to go all-in with 9M out of the 46M in play, with against Troeung’s . It seemed like it was the end. On the turn, Charette stood and was about to offer a handshake, but the dealer revealed the last card: the ! Both players had a good laugh, displaying great sportsmanship… it was far from over!

Troeung, however, went straight back to the grind, picking up pots and value betting with seemingly perfect timing. Charette was back down to about 7M when the last hand started. He raised the 500K big blind to 1.1M, instantly called Troeung’s all-in bet with the goods, and watched as the run out was crowning Troeung. The full hand is pictured below.

Congratulations to our Champion!

The Playground 1000 Champion: Noeung Troeung – $63,450

The Champion’s entourage:

Runner-up: Duff Charette – $53,125

Final hand: 

Marc-André Yelle, despite his double up against Bill Kontaratos, was still feeling the pressure from his opponents. He finally lost the remainder of his chips, leaving 3 players in the fight.

A bit later, Duff Charette got it in against Bill with to Bill’s . Duff flopped a jack but Bill had a club draw. When the rest of the board failed to show a club or a ten, a 20M pot was pushed to Duff and Bill lost his last few chips on the following hand.

And so we have an even duel! Noeung Troeung and Duff Charette showed a lot of skills throughout this final table and it is only fitting that they now face each other for the World Cup of Cards Event #16 trophy and $10,000.

Good luck to both!

Our four finalists are fighting for every inch. In an event of this magnitude, an ICM chop rarely triggers an all-in fest, as the percentage left to the eventual winner always represents a nice chunk of cash – $10,000 in this case.

It seems like Noeung Troeung and Duff Charette have the upper-hand in this 4-way dynamic, picking up more pots than letting go of. Bill Kontaratos’ stack was eroded noticeably and Marc-André Yelle was down to just 3,675,000 when he finally found a double up. Bill called his pre-flop open shove with , which looked pretty good against Yelle’s . But the flop produced a club flush draw and the river completed it, further tightening the race.

Four players are on break. Noeung Troeung, who had just over 4 million when the chop proposition was rejected, has gained quite a bit, mostly from Bill Kontaratos’ hands. Players requested to look at the new payout ICM numbers:

When the tournament director came back to the table with the aforementioned numbers, an agreement was made. On top of these secured prizes, the remaining finalists are now playing for $10,000 up top in a winner-take-all fashion. Congratulations to all for an amazing achievement, and may the best man add $10K to their lot!

After Blais’ elimination, Bill Kontaratos asked his table mates if they were willing to look at some variance-reducing numbers. Duff Charette quickly shut that down, saying that he wasn’t interested with as many as 5 players left.

When Gagné walked away, Bill offered again. This time the opposition wasn’t so clear, but his 3 opponents were still a bit reluctant. Bill mentioned that if they did not agree to look at the numbers by the break – which left about 45 minutes of play – he would play to the end with no alteration to the payouts. It seemed this declaration had a bit of an effect, because the fact that looking at the numbers doesn’t mean agreeing to them was now accepted by all.

So they looked. But in the end… no deal. Initial payouts remain.

Guy Gagné was on the button with 1.7M chips, or just under 7 big blinds. He was dealt an ace, more than enough to roll the dice against 2 random hands. Duff Charette, on the big blind, made the call.

Gagné:
Charette:

Board:

5th: Guy Gagné – $21,180

The 6-handed game lasted a while. At the final table, blind levels were extended to an hour each and the next pay jumps are so big that conservative play was to be expected.

Before his elimination hand, William Blais had about 4M chips. The pot was played heads up between him and Bill Kontaratos. Blais flopped a double gutshot and filled up on the turn, but not without some danger; Bill had picked up a flush draw.

Bill called a bet and when Blais pressed the river with another bet, Bill put him all-in for 1.2M more. Blais was visibly displeased. His read told him that he was probably beat, but at that point he had just over 5 big blinds left and a fortune was in the middle. He called.

Board:

William Blais:
Bill Kontaratos:

6th: William Blais – $17,620

A break allowed the 5K chips to be raced off the table and the 500K chips to be introduced into the game. The latest chip movements favoured Duff Charette who, after struggling to get anything going, benefited from a series of gains. Here are the updated counts:

Some fast action at the start of the Playground 1000 final table!

When Guy Gagné raised to 350K, he was 3bet to 900K by Duff Charette and made the call. The flop came and Gagné opted to simply ship it in, first to act. Charette tanked for a while, vocally formulating the wish that he was playing against some ace king. He finally made the call for 2,295,000 and opened:

Charette:
Gagné:

Charette was right. A couple of rags completed the board and as he was picking up his newfound chips, Charette pointed out how tough it was to put Gagné on ace king, as he himself had two aces in his hand.

After this huge hand, Dakota Vandine shipped about a million chips and was isolated by Bill Kontaratos from the small blind position. He had previously doubled Noeung Troeung, which caused him to be so short.

Vandine:
Kontaratos:

Bill spiked a king on the flop and sent Vandine out in 9th. Ronnie Revizada was next to exit, leaving his chips to Duff Charette who is shaping up to be a serious force late in this event. Revizada’s lost to Charette’s when the river produced a queen.

Just 2 hands later, it was Nirvair Sandhu’s turn to run out of chips. Noeung Troeung, now quite healthy, spiked a jack on the turn to match his and overcome Sandhu’s .

9th: Dakota Vandine – $8,980
8th: Ronnie Revizada – $11,860
7th: Nirvair Sandhu – $14,740

Congratultions to all 3 on a very nice performance!

William Blais was down to 1.8M and got it in with an ace king against Olivier Greer’s pocket queens. The flop looked good for Greer, but the turn revealed a king and Greer was left with nothing but an ante, which went away on the following hand.

10th: Olivier Greer – $8,980

The tournament staff proceeded with the last redraw of the day, reassigning seats to the final tablists. Bill Kontaratos is still in the lead with about 15M, followed by Marc-André Yelle with about 11M. Dakota Vandine, Noeung troeung and Ronnie Revizada are on the short side with about 2M each. Here is the distribution:

A heartwarming rail bird story was brought to us: Guy Gagné’s daughter, also a poker player, showed up in support of her dad. What more can a father ask for? Good luck Guy, make her proud!

Meanwhile, little movement has been observed in the last half hour, save a couple of double-ups. Short stacks are cautious, as prescribed by the upcoming pay jumps, and after suffering a bit of erosion, Nirvair Sandhu doubled to 3M against Bill Kontaratos’ empire. Nirvair’s ace held up nicely, avoiding kings and queens until the board was complete.

On the other table, William Blais’ stack was already dwindling down when Olivier Greer doubled his 1.4M on him, causing Blais to drop to half the average.

The hand started innocently with a small raise from Bill Kontaratos, sitting in the hi-jack. Michael Nolan made the call from the big blind, working with a deep average stack.

Michael check called the flop, and checked the turn. Bill made a sizable bet, and Michael announced all-in, which was met by an instant call. Michael, just as instantly, showed the nuts!

Michael:
Bill:

The river was as brutal as its reputation: !

Bill picked up the monstrous 8M pot and increased his lead by a mile. The next elimination will spell the formation of the final table.

11th: Michael Nolan – $7,360