Kevin Rivest Wins 2017 Canadian Poker Championships

Kevin Rivest has won the 2017 Canadian Poker Championships main event at the World Cup of Cards series. The Canadian defeated a field of 899 entries in the $2 Million CAD guaranteed, $2,200 CAD buy-in event to win the title, the trophy, and the $336,325 CAD first-place prize. This was the final event of the WCC series, a massive 36-event poker festival held at the Playground Poker Club near Montreal that also played host to the Card Player Poker Tour earlier this month.

The Canadian Poker Championships event had many ways for players to qualify into the event for less than the $2,200 CAD price tag, including both live and online ‘phase 1’ feeders of $220 CAD buy-ins or less which drew 1,745 and 1,056 respectively. A total of 336 players qualified this way, with another 563 putting up the $2,200 buy-in to build the final total of 899 entries.

The event ran from September 8-13, with 21 players returning for the final day. Patrick Serda was the chip leader, with World Series of Poker bracelet winner Mike Leah, World Poker Tour Playground Championship main event winner Ema Zajmovic and American bracelet winner Kyle Bowker among the players still in contention. Rivest came into the final day in fifth chip position, and by the time the official eight0handed final table was set he was essentially in the same position.

Rivest started off strong, eliminating Sean Gomez in eighth place and Patrick Serda in seventh to overtake the chip lead. His next knockout came when Mike Leah got all-in preflop with the A9 from the button and Rivest called with the KJ. Rivest paired his jack on the flop and was able to hold up from there, sending Leah to the rail in fourth place with $110,000 CAD. With more than $6.5 million in lifetime live tournament earnings Leah sits in sixth place on Canada’s money list.

Rivest went on to knock out Joel Giguere in third place ($164,000 CAD) to set up a heads-up showdown with Daren Keyes. The two ended up striking a deal that saw chip leader Keyes secure at least $303,675 CAD and Rivest $280,325 CAD, leaving the trophy and another $56,000 CAD to play for.

Rivest was able to find a quick double up and then overtook the lead. On the final hand, Rivest opened to 33,000,000 from the button with blinds of 8,000,000-16,000,000. Keyes quickly moved all in and was just as quickly called by Rivest, who held the A10 which was ahead of Keyes’ QJ. The board ran out K52K5 and Rivest’s ace-high was good enough to secure the pot and the title.

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

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