Nathan Hall Wins WPT National Montreal at Playground Poker Club's World Cup of Cards for CAD $70,974
Nathan Hall took down the WPT National Montreal title at the Playground Poker Club on Thursday.
Hall beat Jeffrey Cormier heads up to win both the WPT National and World Cup of Cards trophies, plus an extra CAD $5,794, after the two struck a deal giving them each CAD $65,000. Despite the deal, the pair still played heads up for three more hours.
In the final hand, Hall come from behind to beat Cormier, getting it in preflop with ten-seven and spiking a seven to down Cormier's queen-eight.
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nathan Hall | CAD $70,974 |
| 2 | Jeffrey Cormier | CAD $65,000 |
| 3 | Jason Mandanici-Turcot | CAD $36,000 |
| 4 | Alexander Villa | CAD $23,500 |
| 5 | Michael Mellor | CAD $18,000 |
| 6 | Senthuran Vijayaratnam | CAD $15,000 |
The final day of the $400,000 guaranteed World Poker Tour National Montreal started with 6 players from a field of 817.
Cormier was at risk early in the day against eventual fifth-place finisher Michael Mellor with ace-king all in against Mellor's jacks. Quad fours on the board gave Cormier the best hand and he grabbed his phone to snap a photo of it.
With Cormier staving off elimination, Senthuran Vijayaratnam soon became the first out. He came into the day with the short stack after holding the overall chip lead going into Day 2. Vijayaratnam got it all in for his tournament life with ace-ten and lost to eventual third-place finisher Jason Mandanici-Turcot, when he turned queen-jack into a full house.
Mellor took fifth place and CAD $18,000 when he got all in again versus Cormier, holding ace-nine against Cormier's pocket sevens. Mellor failed to hit a pair and Cormier even rivered a set to send Mellor packing.
Out in fourth was Alexander Villa, who took home CAD $23,500 after he called Cormier’s shove on a ten-high flop with pocket sevens. Cormier had ace-ten for top pair and stayed ahead to eliminated Villa.
It was certainly a roller-coaster day for Cormier, but not Hall, who steadily built his stack throughout, eventually winning a giant 7-million chip pot against Cormier with three players left. The decisive hand saw Hall push all in on the river for 1.5 million into a 5.5 million pot, and Cormier fold.
Hall had a big lead, but Cormier soon took it over, sending Mandanici-Turcot out in third place. A short-stacked Mandanici-Turcot pushed with deuces and ran into Cormier's king-jack. A jack on the flop and king on the turn ended his run.
Cormier started heads-up play on top, and at one point had an almost five-to-one chip lead, before Hall doubled twice in consecutive hands. First, Hall flopped a set of kings and got all in on the turn with Cormier holding a pair of sevens. Then, on the very next hand, the two got all in with Cormier holding deuces against Hall's aces. Hall doubled up again and the stacks were about even when the deal was struck.
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