A Big Win in the Big Ante for Andrew Watt
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The latest champion of the 2017 World Cup of Cards is Edmonton's Andrew Watt. Kicking off at noon on Tuesday, Event #5: NL Hold'em Big Ante attracted a field of 87, just one shy of the mark gathered in 2016. Watt defeated Sasan Mehrabian heads-up in just one hand to claim the title and a top prize of $2,165.
Final Table Results:
| Place | Name | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Watt | Canada | 2,165 CAD |
| 2 | Sasan Mehrabian | Canada | 1,651 CAD |
| 3 | Daniel Le | Canada | 1,256 CAD |
| 4 | Peter Johnson Messer | Canada | 955 CAD |
| 5 | Francois St Onge | Canada | 724 CAD |
| 6 | Adam Podstawka | Canada | 549 CAD |
| 7 | Manfred Gunther | Canada | 414 CAD |
| 8 | Andre St-Jean | Canada | 312 CAD |
| 9 | Andrew Pelletier | Canada | 233 CAD |
| 10 | Alim Ismail | Canada | 180 CAD |
Some familiar players who took a shot today but couldn't quite make the cut included Isabelle Tremblay, William Blais, David Jeanneau-Cyr and defending champion Shawn Daigle.
Final Table Action
The final table of ten came together after the elimination of John E Slaughter. He lost a flip with ace-king against Sasan Mehrabian's pocket tens and the rest was history. The remaining players decided to take $20 from each of the final nine payouts and create a tenth place payout to eliminate the money bubble.
Mehrabian came into the final table as the chip leader, but the major action in the early stages changed this quite quickly. Daniel Le doubled with pocket tens against Mehrabian's nines, followed by Alim Ismail running ace-jack into Francois St Onge's pocket aces.
Ismail was left with just over one big blind and was eliminated in 10th place ($180) right after the break, unable to get anything going with eight-five to St Onge's king-jack. Shortly after, Andre Pelletier also got his short stack in the middle, holding queen-ten of clubs. Mehrabian held king-nine and turned trips to seal the deal. Pelletier took home $233 for his 9th place finish.
Next to go was Andre St-Jean in 8th place ($312). He got his remaining chips in the middle with pocket threes but found himself up against Adam Podstawka's tens. The board ran out dry and he headed for the rail. Manfred Gunther claimed 7th place ($414) after peeling a couple of black tens and getting it in against Peter Messer's ace-jack of clubs. The flop brought both an ace and a ten, but the board ran out queen-king to give Messer a straight.
Podstawka was left with just four big blinds and shoved from the small blind with nine-deuce. He found himself in worse shape than expected, and lost to Daniel Le's king-deuce. Podstawka picked up $549 for 6th place for his deep run. Right behind him was Francois St Onge in 5th place ($724). Down to just a couple of big blinds, he ripped it in with a couple of fives but found himself on the wrong end of a flip against Messer's ace-queen of spades. Messer found an ace on the flop and St Onge's run was over.
Fourth place went to Messer, taking home $955. He got it in with king-queen but both Le and Andrew Watt rivered a straight and the tournament was down to just three players. Le was next, shoving ace-three on the button. He ran into Watt's ace-king and was unable to improve. Le took home $1,256 for his third place finish.
Heads-up play lasted just one hand. Watt and Mehrabian got it in before the flop, with Mehrabian holding ace-ten and Watt with queen-jack of clubs. The flop came ten-high, but the river was a bright, red jack and Watt locked up the win. Mehrabian took home $1,651 for his efforts while Watt pocketed $2,156, the trophy and the title.