Canucks End 2019 WSOP with a Bang!

We may not have brought home the WSOP Championship, but our fellow Canadians finished off the 2019 World Series of Poker with two more bracelets and a pair of runner up finishes.

After following the World Series of Poker preliminary events for more than a month, then turning all of our attention to the main event day, after day, after day, we tend to forget that there’s more going on behind the scenes.

Yes, the main event, #73 on the docket, is the most auspicious of them all, but it’s only the 73rd out of 89 total events. And the rest of those events all took place in the background while the 2019 WSOP Champion – who turned out to be German poker player Hussein Ensan – was still whittling his way into the final table.

Those last 16 WSOP tournaments included some real interesting ones. There was the $800 Online event, which attracted over 1,500 to the virtual felt, as well as the $100,000 NLHE High Roller, an event famous for drawing all of the world’s biggest pros and wealthiest business people from the woodwork.

This may not have been a year we Canadians brought the championship gold back home, but we sure know how to keep the party going. Once the big event was underway, Canada’s pro poker players added two more gold bracelets to the count, and landed in two runner up positions.

Shawn Buchanan Wins WSOP ONLINE for $223k

As previously reported, Shawn “Bucky21” Buchanan brought home the gold in early July when he outlasted David “Youngpitts” Baker to earn the 1st place prize of $223,119 in EV#76, $800 WSOP Online NLH 6-handed. That marked the third bracelet to adorn a Canadian wrist this year. Then, as soon as Shawn buckled the clasp, another Canuck was climbing the podium to #1.

Tu Dao Wins $3k LH 6-Max for $133k

The very next event, #77 $3,000 Limit Hold’em 6-Max, came down to a shoot out between Canada’s Tu Dao and American Alain Alinat. The two spent more than two and a half hours exchanging chips before Tu began scooping them away from her opponent in approximate half-million piles. Finally, when she had him down to his last 525 million, Dao aimed for the heart and pulled the trigger.

Tu Dao claimed her first bracelet – the second won by a woman in this year’s World Series – and the top prize of $133,189.

Negreanu Comes Up Short in $100k High Roller

Canada’s favorite hometown hero, Daniel Negreanu, didn’t do too bad at this year’s Las Vegas poker festival, but he didn’t add any jewelry to his trophy case either. Kid Poker cashed in 16 events this year, which is an impressive stat to say the least. Finishing second in two of them wasn’t a bad deal, either. After landing 2nd in the $10k 7 Card Stud Championship for $151k, he rebounded with a repeat performance in EV#83 $100k High Roller.

After pushing past the first 97 entries, Daniel found himself staring down American Keith Tilston in heads-up. It took an hour to determine a winner, and despite Negreanu leading by more than 2-to-1 in the counts at one point, Keith proved to be the better player that day. Tilston won the bracelet and $2,792,406 top prize, while Negreanu added another $1,725,838 to his career earnings (now over $42 million).

Sammy Lafleur Takes Second in “The Closer”

EV#84, a $1,500 NLH tournament known as “The Closer”, saw 2,800 competing for one of the final bracelets of this year’s poker series. In the end, it came down to Abhinav Iyer of India, versus Sammy Lafleur of Canada.

Lafleur was far behind in the counts when the two went into heads-up action, but he managed to stick around for more than half an hour before a seemingly imminent elimination. Iyer earned a well deserved gold bracelet and the 1st place prize of $565,346, while Sammy Lafleur banked $349,417 for his runner-up finish.

And with that, my friends, we bid a fond farewell to the 2019 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Four gold bracelets isn’t a bad finish. It’s twice as good as last year. Can’t complain one bit. Well done Canada!