Yesterday evening, World Poker Tour Fall Classic announced the name of the champion to win the first prize in the opening event Strangers in the Night. The local player William Blais climbed the ladder of success to earn the top prize of C$23,000. He demonstrated accomplished poker skills and confidence throughout the entire game to find himself the winner of a solid cash prize and WPT title. The poker festival is currently underway and it offers 16 more prizes up for grabs.
Stranger in the Night tournament was the first event to be played within the festival. It kicked off on 29th October and it featured 4 starting flights and 2 more days of play. The event attracted a field of 904 entries in total, but only the players who bagged in any of the starting flights had the chance to enter Day 2 of the event. William Blais entered the poker contention on Day 1B of the $160 buy-in tournament. By the time the clock announced the end of the game, Blais tripped into the chip lead after the end of Day 1B. He was marching into Day 2 of the tournament with a tower of 290,000 in chips. However, it was Daniel Le to lead the pack of all survivors into Day 2.
Day 2 of Strangers in the Night started with 185 players, who resumed competition for one of the paid places and all vying for the first-place payout and the trophy. The competition was fierce, but the poker field was whittled to just 14. Blais maintained top form throughout the day to collect almost 30% of the chips in play and gain the upper hand over his rivals.
Strangers in the Night’s Final Day 3 Recap
Day 3 of the tournament saw the 14 final tablists resume play. At that moment, Blais was holding an impressive stack of 5,595,000 in chips. Jean-Francois Daunais, who entered Day 3 of the event as the second player in chips, was eliminated shortly after the cards were in the air. Blais was responsible for Daunais’ elimination.
Chips swung back and forth during the final table. At a certain moment, Blais saw his stack of chips halved as the cards did not go his way. Francois Roy took the opportunity to come back in the game and gain momentum on behalf of disarmed Blais. However, Blais did not give up without a fight. He managed to keep control over himself like a real warrior, as he knew that the war just began. Eventually, he regained momentum to never look back. Said Michailidis was the player to leave the poker contention in 3rd place and give a starting shoot to the clash of the two titans William Blais and Francois Roy. Roy challenged Blais in an all-in confrontation. The eventual winner tabled [Kd][10c] against Roy’s [Qh][9h]. The board ran out [6s][Kc][Ac][5c][7c] providing Blais with a winning flush. Francois Roy locked C$14,807 for his runner-up finish.
