Day 3 is not even 15 minutes old and we have lost our first two players. The field is now down to 18.

The first to go was Nicolas Majdalani, who finishes in 20th and collects a prize of $750. Next to leave was Adam Hussen, finishing 19th and also collecting a prize of $750. Congratulations on making it this deep!

With the loss of those two players, the has now been re-seated at two 9-handed tables. Things are starting to get interesting. Play continues…

It all comes down the this, the final 20 players. The Strangers in the Night tournament has seen some fantastic poker action over the last few days, and by the end of the night (or perhaps early in the morning) a champion will be crowned. Top prize is over $16,000.

Spread over three tables, there are four players that will start with more than 1,000,000 chips, giving them an initial advantage. Of those leaders, Grant Ellis and Matthew Wilkins are on top, with close to 2,000,000 chips each.

Then there are nine players – almost half the field – that make up the bottom half of our group, each of them with less than 500,000 in chips. Our short stack of the day is Marc-Olivier Beauregard, with only 185,000. We’ll be keeping an eye on him as the underdog.

The first hand has just been dealt. Good luck to all the players as we move towards our champion.

After 3 Day 1 starting flights and Day 2 last night, it all comes down to this: Day 3 of Event #11 in the 2019 World Cup of Cards. There are 20 players remaining in the event and they will re-convene around 3 tables at 7:00pm tonight – January 31st – to play down to a winner.

Here is the updated seating draw with counts from the end of play on Day 2. Click or tap on any column header to sort the table.

After ten 40-minute levels, Day 2 of the $150 + $25 Strangers in the Night event is now in the bag. Only 20 players remain out of the starting field of 584 that began the tournament.

With a total prize pool of $84,972 and a 1st place prize of $16,232, Day 3 promises to be an exciting affair! It begins tomorrow, Thursday January 31st at 7PM.

Below are some photos of our chip leaders, taken just before the end of the day.

Exact chip numbers for our leaders will be provided shortly.

The players in the Strangers in the Night tournament have taken their final break of the day and will now play down through 2 levels before bagging to return on Day 3. There are currently 27 players remaining, and as play is 9-handed, they are distributed evenly on 3 tables.

The chip leader his William Blais, but he’s followed closely by experienced players like Jonathan B, among others, so he nor anyone else can get complacent going into the final string in Day 2.

There was a bit of a preflop war as Charles Syme raised to 35K only to face a 3b from Vsevolod Malamud – known also as Slava or Squirrel (after one of his favourite card covers) to 101K. Charles made the call and the dealer laid out the flop.

Flop:

Both players checked. The turn came and Charles checked once again. Slava, who was also enjoying some chicken tenders and a sip of his beer, took a few seconds and then bet 169K. Charles went into the tank trying to decide what to do. He tried a little speech play, suggesting that he hadn’t even looked at the board yet, instead focusing on his opponent. Slava, for his part, took another bite of his tenders, refusing to take the bait. In due time, Charles made the call.

The river was a blank for both players, and the action went check-check. Charles was first to show: . But Slava turned over and took the huge pot.

Antonio Sankari – already an event champion during this World Cup of Cards – has emerged as the chip leader in the Strangers in the Night event with just 4 levels left to be played on Day 2.

Going into the final 4 levels there are currently 41 players spread across 5 tables. Play continues in level 21.

One of the players who doubled during hand for hand play was Alexandre Cote-St-Louis, who at one point pre-bubble had been down to 2bb. Then he was the first player to double during hand for hand play – except that he more than doubled – there had been 4 players to the flop on the hand, so he had their contributions as well as his beat Gabriel DT’s after Gabriel had 3b Christopher Kokozaki off the hand on the flop.

Fast forward a couple of levels and Alexandre is somewhat short again, but wins a nice pot in blind on blind action after tank-calling holding compared with his neighbour in the sb holding just . No one made a pair on the hand and Alexandre’s higher Ace took the pot.

Just 3 hands later, Alexandre was again all in, this time from the cutoff. Chad Coombs made the call, and the hands were exposed:

Alexandre:
Chad:

Alexandre found a way to win on the flop, coolering Chad, who could do nothing but watch as the turn and river cards were revealed.

The comeback was complete – Alexandre was left playing well over 400K in chips, ready to try for a deep run in the event.