Luc Bellerive Leads the Final 8 at the End of Day 2
The final eight players have bagged up the 5.7 million chips in play at the end of Day 2 of the $1,650 Card Player Poker Tour World Cup of Cards event after nine levels of play.
Day 1a (76 entries) and Day 1b (115 entries) combined for a total of 191 entries across two starting flights. The prize pool guaranteed $400,000 paying out 24 players for a first-place prize worth $98,000!
Leading the way is Luc Bellerive with 1,698,000 chips. He began the final table as the chip leader with 1,000,000 and never really looked back. The remaining players are guaranteed $11,520 which would mean a deep finish will be well over his $6,000 in total live earnings for his fifth-ever cash.
Close behind Bellerive is Tam Ho with 1,327,000 after a late surge in the last level and Stuart Taylor (800,000) rounds out the top three.
Day 3 will commence on Monday, August 28th at 2:30 p.m. as the remaining players have decided to come back a little bit later than the originally planned noon start-time.
Here is a look at how the remaining players stack up tomorrow:
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Chartier | 587,000 |
| 2 | Luc Bellerive | 1,698,000 |
| 3 | Ha Van Nguyen | 278,000 |
| 4 | Tristan Bergeron | 325,000 |
| 5 | Robert Laberge | 692,000 |
| 6 | Jonathan Marrie | 283,000 |
| 7 | Stuart Taylor | 800,000 |
| 8 | Empty | - |
| 9 | Empty | - |
| 10 | Tam Ho | 1,327,000 |
The day began with 43 hopefuls and just 24 would make it through for a min-cash worth $3,600. In just the first two hours, 15 players were eliminated and the money bubble loomed sooner than everyone thought. On the way to the money, some familiar players who didn't quite make it through included defending champion Brady Hinnegan, Garrett Dansereau, Jiachen Gong, Andrew Watt, Sammy Chao, Nathan Hall and Thomas Cemm.
In the fourth level of the day, the bubble lasted nine hands and it was Matthew Paplyk who fell and brought the remaining players into the money. Paplyk raised to 45,000 when the blinds were 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante and Jonathan Marrie three-bet to 100,000. Paplyk only had 110,000 total and piled the rest of it in, prompting a snap-call from Paplyk. He tabled two kings and Marrie disappointingly showed queens. Unfortunately for Paplyk, the dealer fanned an ace-high flop with the queen of spades in the window and Paplyk headed to the rail.
Once the final 24 contenders were in the money, players began to drop at a steady pace. Along the way to the final table, some of the notable players who fell short include Thomas Lefort (11th place - $8,490), Patrick Braga (12th place - $8,490), Jean-Philippe Piquette (16th place - $5,970), and William Blais (22nd place - $3,600).
Chip leader Bellerive was short once in the money but showed a timely bluff against Michael Malm and spun his stack up from there. He won a flip with tens against ace-king and that led him to the final table. Thomas Lefort was the final-table bubble boy after getting in ace-ten of spades against Bellerive's pocket nines. Lefort flopped two pair but the dreaded nine on the river sealed his fate and the final ten players came together.
Bellerive led the way and was the first to hit a million chips and never really looked back. With just under two levels to go before the end of play today, Jake Labonte decided to run with pocket nines but ran into Jonathan Marrie's pocket tens and finished in 10th place ($8,490). Players went on their last break of the night and in the last level, start-of-day chip leader and WSOP bracelet winner Malm lost a big chunk of his stack to Tam Ho after folding to a shove on the river. Shortly after, he got his remaining stack in the middle with queen-deuce suited but couldn't improve against Bellerive's ace-ten. Malm settled for 9th place for a payday worth $9,850.
The remaining players played for a short while longer before bagging and tagging for the night. The final eight players will come back to play at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, so stick around as PokerNews continues to bring all of the action on the way to crowning a winner!
Here is a look at the final table payouts:
| Place | Player Name | Country | Prize (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | Canada | 98,000 |
| 2 | - | Canada | 67,050 |
| 3 | - | Canada | 40,000 |
| 4 | - | Canada | 24,210 |
| 5 | - | Canada | 18,700 |
| 6 | - | Canada | 15,480 |
| 7 | - | Canada | 13,190 |
| 8 | Michael Malm | Canada | 11,520 |
| 9 | Jake Labonte | Canada | 9,850 |
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
1,698,000 | 6,000 |
|
1,327,000 | |
|
800,000 | |
|
692,000 | |
|
350,000 | |
|
|
325,000 | |
|
283,000 | |
|
|
278,000 |
, Malm bet 70,000, and Ho check-called.
fell on the turn and Ho checked once more. Malm bet 200,000 and Ho snap-shoved all-in, having Malm covered.
. The board ran out 
and Malm departed in 9th place.
and Labonte took his leave in 10th place, setting the official final table.
and Lefort made two pair aces and tens. The turn was the 
but the river was the 
and the entire table gasped as Bellerive made a set to eliminate Lefort and send the remaining 10 players to the final table.
and Braga fell in 12th place.
and Hartwick was unable to improve.
and Tarbell was eliminated.