Jiachen Gong Wins Playground Poker's Quantum No-Limit Hold em Tournament for $50,000
Jiachen Gong is the winner of Event #1 of the World Cup of Cards at Playground Poker Club. He took home CAD $50,000 for winning the Quantum No-Limit Hold em tournament that kicked off the WCC with its first of ten starting flights.
The Quantum had several buy-in options throughout the series. Several of the flights were $170, a few were $250 and $350, and one was $550. The players could also direct buy-in to Day 2 for $2,200 and start the day with 62 big blinds. The final option was one mega satellite that awarded nine $2,200 seats. After all the registration was over, the Quantum gathered 1,023 entries over the last month and Jiachen Gong was the one who took home the trophy and the $50,000 prize on the final day of the WCC.
Gong was one of 29 players who bought in for Day 2.
The day started with 22 players vying for the Quantum title. The final ten players each made a minimum of $3,100. Here are the payouts for the final table.
| Place | Name | Prize (CAD) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jiachen Gong | 50,000 |
| 2 | Armand King | 33,000 |
| 3 | Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault | 21,000 |
| 4 | David Cadoche | 15,165 |
| 5 | Reid Fortin | 10,800 |
| 6 | Noeung Troeung | 8,800 |
| 7 | Eddie Daldalian | 7,000 |
| 8 | Albert N | 5,400 |
| 9 | Mathieu Leclerc | 4,000 |
| 10 | Dave Graham | 3,100 |
First to go was Dave Graham, the tenth place finisher. He doubled through Gong, but got all in with aces against Gong a few hands later. Gong had pocket tens and caught a ten to eliminate Graham. Eddie Daldalian would battle another short stack in Mathieu Leclerc. Leclerc was the second player in a row to be eliminated holding aces when Daldalian flopped a pair and went runner-runner to a full house.
Daldalian was next to go, and it was Gong who would get in pair versus pair again and catch a set to come from behind and eliminate another player. Daldalian's queens couldn't keep up with the flopped set of fives for Gong.
Noeung Troeung finished in sixth place when he was eliminated by Armand King. Troeung opened from middle position and King defended the big blind. The flop was all low cards and both players checked. King led the turn when he completed a six-high straight and Troeung shoved over the top with pocket aces.
After that, Gong won the hand that set him up for the home stretch of the tournament. He busted Reid Fortin in fifth place just before a break. Fortin four-bet shoved with ace-king and Gong called with jacks. Gong won the hand and took an amazing chip lead, holding half the chips in play going into four-handed play.
David Cadoche was very short going into four-handed play and would be eliminated by Marc-Olivier Carpentier-Perrault. Cadoche got it in nine-high from the big blind against the king high of Carpentier-Perrault. Neither player connected with the board and Cadoche hit the rail in fourth.
Carpentier-Perrault was next. During three-handed play Armand King took control and amassed a two-to-one chip lead before he doubled up Carpentier-Perrault, who then busted to Gong and left the two heads up with fairly even stacks.
King and Gong played heads up for about three hours and finally Gong won the tournament when he got all in with pocket sevens against the ace-nine of King. Gong claimed the trophy became the winner of Event #1 of the World Cup of Cards.
Throughout the series, several players turned up for Quantum starting flights and took a chance at cashing for just bagging a Day 2 stack. Timothy Deering and Alain Louis Levesque took full advantage of that and bagged three different stacks. They collected $400 for bagging a Day 2 stack, but they also collected an additional $1,500 per stack. They both cashed for $4,200 before Day 2 even started.
Several players bought directly into Day 2 and made deep runs. Samuel Chartier, who finished in 20th place and took home $2,000, just missed getting his money back when he got in king-high against Douglas James who held tens.
In the end, the big winner was Jiachen Gong and he took home the third largest first place prize of the tournament series. The World Cup of Cards ends today with Event #28: $330 No-Limit Bounty Tournament. PokerNews has been here throughout the series with updates, photos, and recaps from all 28 events. Check out the PokerNews Facebook page for the live streams from the whole month's worth of action.
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