Francois Billard limped in from the button, Kevin Rivest raised to 280,000 from the big blind and Billard moved all in for roughly 2,300,000. Rivest made the call to put Billard at risk.
Francois Billard: 3♠3♣
Kevin Rivest: A♥Q♥
Rivest was a massive favorite on the A♠10♥4♦ flop with top pair and remained ahead on the 6♣ turn. Billard hit one of his t wo outs on the 3♥ river, making a set to the pot and chip lead.
After nearly 18 hours of play a winner has emerged from a field of 178 in Event #13: $3,300 High Roller here at the 2024 World Series of Poker Playground. When the dust had settled Francois Billard was the last player standing, last defeating Kevin Rivest in heads-up play to take home his first circuit ring and the $112,500 winner’s payout.
Billard was under the radar as one of the smaller stacks throughout the day until going on a heater at the final three to snatch the victory from the hands of perennial chip leaders Kevin Rivest and Adil Morkos.
Final Table Result
Place
Player
Country
Prize (CAD)
1
Francois Billard
Canada
$112,500
2
Kevin Rivest
Canada
$77,500
3
Adil Morkos
Canada
$52,500
4
Timothy Ulmer
United States
$40,000
5
Anoop Jugurnath
Canada
$31,000
6
Stephane Blouin-Verroeulst
Canada
$26,000
7
Renmei Liu
Canada
$22,000
8
Wenping Chen
Canada
$18,000
9
Kyle Yun-Wing Ho
Canada
$15,000
10
Jaime Staples
Canada
$12,000
Action of the Night
The thirteenth of fifteen circuit events attracted a total of 178 entrants, generating a total prize pool of $534,000 to surpass the $500,000 guarantee. Some notable players who fell on Day 2 before the money was reached include Eliot Hudon, Santiago Plante, Chanracy Khun and Mike Leah. Renmei Liu claimed Leah’s stack after a brutal river and was able to ride that early success all the way to the final table where he finished in seventh place.
Adil Morkos started building a monster stack with two tables left after turning a flush to knock out Danny Boyaci. That hand helped propel Morkos to the final table where he entered with the chip lead.
Players were very deep-stacked at the start of the ten-handed final table and it took roughly two hours for any eliminations to occur. Jaime Stapleswas first to fall after Billard rivered a set to triple up and avoid elimination himself. Kyle Yun-Wing Ho was also left short after that hand and busted shortly afterwards. Ho was followed out the door by Wenping Chen, Liu and start of day chip leader Stephane Blouin-Verroeulst in eighth, seventh and sixth place respectively.
Anoop Jugurnath traded the chip lead back and forth with Morkos at the beginning of the final table before finding himself short-stacked after doubling up Billard. Rivest got the rest of his chips soon after before Timothy Ulmerbowed out in fourth place after running into Morkos' aces.
Morkos entered three-handed play with over half the total chips and began putting relentless pressure on his opponents. That all changed after Rivest put his chips in the middle with a higher pocket pair and held to take the chip lead and leave Morkos short. Billard got the rest of Morkos' chips not long after to enter heads-up play against Rivest.
Rivest started heads-up play with a modest lead over Billard and did a good job whittling Billard down in the early parts of the heads-up duel. The momentum shifted suddenly after Billard doubled up through Rivest twice. Those hands left Rivest on fumes and Billard finished him off with a few hands later in one last preflop race to take home the high roller title, top prize of $112,500 and his first WSOP circuit ring.