Ryan Riess’s $8,361,570 victory at the $10,000 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event may well have brought the curtain down hard on the Daddy of all poker tournaments, but it’s little boy is still cruising around North America with the WSOPC currently harbored in Quebec.
We have four events to get you up to speed with.
Event #1 $365 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Re-Entry
The event drew in 282 entrants thus creating a total prize pool of $84,600 in the opener at the Casino du Lac-Leamy.
The winner was Aila Elouta, a 26-year old construction worker; who bested an all-Canadian final table to take the first prize of $20,303 and his first-ever WSOPC gold ring.
“I have never played a tournament like this before and I won. What can I say, man? It feels awesome,” said Elouta.
It wasn’t just an all-Canadian final table either as all-30 places in the cash register belonged to Canadian citizens.
It was the first-ever WSOP-related event to take place on Quebec soil and the WSOP bracelet holder Erik Cajelais took fourth in the event.
Event #2 $580 NLHE
The slightly higher buy-in of $580 saw a slightly lower turnout with 167 players creating a total prize pool of $83,500.
The winner of the event certainly knew his way around the Casino du Lac-Leamy poker room because he was a former employee.
Andrej Markovinovic pocketed $22,546 for his spoils just three days after quitting his job at the casino to pursue poker full time. I guess this is what you call a great start.
“I worked at this casino for the past eight years,” an emotional Markovinovic said. “[The ring] is huge, especially winning it here in front of all my friends and ex-colleagues. It’s a big prestige for me.”
It was a tough final table with FTOPs supremo Mike Leah cashing in 9th place.
Event #3 $365 NLHE
Marc Carpentier outlasted a field of 265 players in the third event of the series to take $19,477 from the final prize pool of $79,500, and boy did he do it the hard way.
When the action reached heads up Carpentier trailed his opponent Yoon Alphonsus by 700k to 200k, and things would get much worse when he found himself down to just 8BB.
Undeterred, Carpentier knuckled down, ran like Usain Bolt on a pair of jet powered roller skates and eventually reigned supreme.
“I wanted the ring really bad. It’s my first live win,” Carpentier said. “This is my first trophy and it represents a lot to win this.”
Mike Leah late regged the event after making the final table in Event #2 and managed to cash in 19th place.
Event #4 $1,125 NLHE
The biggest buy-in event so far attracted 165 players and created a $165,000 prize pool, and it was Adam Smith who took the honors and $44,547 in prize money.
Smith, a former Triathlete, found himself down to just 2BB with 25-players left, but he never gave up and his spirited fight back saw him end up with all the chips.
“Somehow I made it into the cash and then started running well,” he said. “It kind of felt like a sick free roll. You always laugh at the expression about a chip and a chair, but it happened.”
Of the 165 players who began the tournament 11 of them pledged to donate a portion of their winnings to charity. Amongst them were Marc Dupre, a Canadian musician, Felix award winner and judge on the Canadian version of The Voice. Dupre is also the son-in-law of Celine Dion and he made the final table where he finished in 8th.
