Paolo Tana Chirico collected the first-place prize along with the champion’s trophy at the World Cup of Cards $200 + $20 Roll the Dice tournament, which took place September 3 at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Canada. The event kicked off at 8:00 pm local time and attracted a field of 62 players, who all joined the competition with one goal in mind – to pocket the $3,888 first-place prize, which was one of the seven payouts awarded to top finishers in the tournament.
Such events are a trademark of the World Cup of Cards which offers a broader range of non-Texas Hold’em tournaments, allowing participants to diversify their action with less standard games. In the $200 + $20 Roll the Dice event, in particular, the player in the button position is granted the opportunity to toss a die on the table, with each of the six sides representing six different games. The games in question are as follows in order – Pot-Limit Hold’em, No-Limit Hold’em, Pineapple, Four-Card Pot-Limit Omaha, Five-Card Pot-Limit Omaha, and Crazy Pineapple.
It was Paolo Tana Chirico who prevailed over his opponents to collect the top prize, crushing Leo Hackenbroch, Dan Vigderhous, Cameron Battikha, and Elizabeth K in the process. Paolo Tana Chirico joined the seven-handed battle with an average stack unlike Vigderhous and Battikha who had a significant lead over him and continued to consistently increase their stacks. Nevertheless, Chirico succeeded in busting opponents Hackenbroch, Elizabeth, and Vigderhouse in a single blow, which moved him ahead of the pack.
Chirico Eliminates Battikha in 3rd Place
Chirico did not slow down and continued with his aggressive approach when the table was down to three players in total. Chirico put a lot of pressure on Battikha and Jean-Pierre Poirier who were both short-stacked at this point. In a five-card Pot-Limit Omaha hand, Chirico raised pre-flop leaving opponent Battikha no other option but to surrender most of the chips he was left with.
Battikha revealed [Jh][Js][2h][4d][7s]
against Chirico’s [Ks][10s][7c][Kc][4c]
and both players formed sets after the flop came [3d][4h][4s]. A [10h]
appeared on the turn followed by a [Qd]
on the river. However, Chirico’s higher kicker secured him the victory over Battikha who settled for a third-place prize of $1,930.
At this point, Chirico was ready to commence the heads-up battle with his last opponent Jean-Pierre Poirier. The two players agreed on an ICM (Independent Chip Model) chop of the pot, with $240 reserved for the winner. Chirico prevailed in a No-Limit Pineapple hand with a pair of [4s][4c] against Poirier’s [As][Jh]. Poirier settled for the second place-prize of $2,880 leaving the champion’s trophy and the first-place prize of $3,748 for Chirico.
