Day 1A in Event #11, the $150 + $25 Strangers in the Night event in the World Cup of Cards has officially wrapped up with 46 players qualifying for Day 2 action.

There were 202 entries (including 49 re-entries) in today’s opening flight that included six levels of late registration. There are two more scheduled starting flights in the event – tomorrow (January 29) at 11:00am and 7:00pm. Qualifiers for Day 2 action will compete on Wednesday, January 30th, at 7:00pm.

Congratulations to all the qualifiers!

Click here to see the full list of Day 1 qualifiers.

Here are some pics of some of today’s big stacks.

Tanvir Ahmed was very happy. “Did you catch that hand?”

He described the monster pot he had just won. After an initial preflop raise to 5,000 chips, four other players, including himself, called.

When the flop came down , he told me it was a set up. “I was holding .”

One of the players had two pair, kings and queens, but Tanvir had the nut straight. “I went all in,” he smiled, “I tripled up my stack. I now have more than 300,000 chips!”

We’re down to 86 players at the WCC Event #11 Day 1A. As I walked by table 31, Stephano Parise and Nabil Nahoul were going heads up; the dealer was preparing to deal the community cards. Stephano, who was all in, stood up after Nabil revealed his pocket jacks, . Stephano’s hole cards were .

The dealer the flop . Stephano shook his head. When the turn card was revealed, he frowned.  Even before the river card was snapped onto the board by the dealer, Stephano started to put on his jacket. The didn’t help his cause. Stephano congratulated Nabil, and navigated away from the table.

The players have just returned from their second break at the WCC Event #11 Day 1A. Although many of the players headed towards the exists for some fresh air, many of the competitors gathered around the final table at the WCC Event #8, where eight competitors remain.

Many of the Event #11 players had competed in the first two days of Event #8 and clearly their curiosity is piqued about who will win the top prize of $120,000.

But instead of peeking in on Event #8 during the break, we took the opportunity to count the chips in the Strangers in the Night opening flight, and discovered that it’s virtually a dead heat between Dakota Vandine and Arnold Foley. Ironically, the two players are sitting side by side at table 22, adding to the intrigue. Dakota has amassed a stack of 150,000 chips, and Arnold clocked in with 145,000.

Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Datota Valine	150,000
Arnold Foley	145,000
Nabil Nahoul	139,000
Victor Rusu	102,000

Alexandre Carpentier, Ian Tang and Armand King, AKA the Oyster king all limped into a hand at table 34.

When the flop came down, . Alexandre bet 1,000. Ian called, and Armand mucked.

When the dealer revealed the turn, , Alexandre bet 2,500. After a couple moments of pondering, Ian splashed his call into the pot.

The river was dealt, . Both players checked.

When Alexandre turned his hole cards, , Ian couldn’t match his opponent’s two pair, and tossed his cards, face down, back to the dealer.

When I returned to the table to take Alexandre’s photo, Muto Katsuhiro and the Oyster King were engaged in a heads up duel that Katsuhiro won with three kings. The player immediately to Muto’s left, Monica Du, smiled at Muto, who was on the verge of busting. “Lucky you, now you can stay here and enjoy the pizza that you just ordered.”

Do you love poker? Are you fond of coming to the aid of people in need? Well, if you answered yes two both those questions, you need to head down to Playground Poker for the Strangers in the Night event.

The Strangers in the Night Group are instrumental in aiding the Miriam Foundation, the West Island Women’s Shelter, and Lymphoma Canada. 

Late registration for this Day 1 is still open for another 30 minutes. So, it’s not too late to join the action, and simultaneously contribute to a good cause.

The players in the event have just returned from their first break, and two players are running neck and neck at the front of the pack. Daniel Gennings’ stack measured 82,000 chips, and nipping at his heels is Nabil Nahoul, who has a stack of 81,000 chips.

 

Name | Nom	Stack | Tapis
Daniel Gennings	82,000
Nabil Nahoul	81,000
Angelo Gonzales	62,000
Daniel Pepin	61,000

There is a little less than an hour left before the close of late registration at the WCC Event #11 Day 1A, Strangers in the Night. This is a charity event that contributes to the Stranger’s in the Night foundation that features hockey Hall of Famer, Larry Robinson, as its spokesperson. So if your interested in playing a little poker, and want to contribute to a good cause at the same time, you still have time to join the action.

And speaking of action; the heat is beginning to turn up at table 30, where Daniel Pepin raised to 500, preflop. Feras Mansour and Denis Scott both called.

When the flop came down , all three players checked.

When the dealer revealed the turn , Denis bet 1,000. Feras mucked, and Daniel called.

When the river card was dealt , Denis bet 2,500. Daniel pondered, but eventually called.

Denis showed his , and Daniel shook his head, and returned his cards to the dealer.