Cassidy Battikha Takes Down partypoker LIVE Grand Prix Canada

Cassidy Battikha (cover image) knows how to fight tough odds as a trainee firefighter. He displayed that quality in abundance on his way to claiming the partypoker LIVE Grand Prix Canada title for $84,050, which is the biggest and first tournament cash of his career.

Just 38 of the 2,570 entries remained when Day 3 kicked off at Playground Poker Club, Kahnawake, Quebec, with local poker pro Mike Leah leading the charge.

Final Table Recap

Battikha sat on top of the counts after the field was quickly reduced to a final table.Kyle Chang was the first casualty falling in ninth place to Battikha followed by Dilovan Hussein just a few hands later.

Emmanuel Kyrkinis was next to hit the rail while Shahar Ohaion’s run came to an end shortly thereafter in sixth place.

At that time, two short stacked players, Leah and Leandre St-Laurent clashed against each other in an all-in showdown. Leah held ace-king against Laurent’s ace-four and with no help on the board, Laurent made a fifth-place finish.

Leah couldn’t sustain much longer, as he lost major part of his stack to Battikha and a few hands later his tournament life came to end in fourth place.

The final three players paused the clock and negotiated a deal based on an ICM numbers. The deal was soon finalized and play resumed. Soon thereafter, Zeidler was eliminated in third place.

Battikha began the heads-up match with a 10-1 chip lead over Abdelhamid. All it took were a couple of hands for the inevitable to happen. Battikha sealed his victory as he open-jammed with jack-eight and Karim Abdelhamid made the call with queen-nine. Battikha flopped a pair of jacks and faded the rest of the board to eliminate Abdelhamid and take home the title.

Final Table Results (CAD)

1. Cassidy Battikha – $84,050

2. Karim Abdelhamid – $62,500

3. Kevin Zeidler – $53,450+ $20,000*

4. Mike Leah – $25,000

5. Leandre St-Laurent – $14,580

6. Shahar Ohaion – $10,000

7. Emmanuel Kyrkinis – $7,500

8. Dilovan Hussein – $6,000

9. Kyle Chang – $5,000

*Winner of last longer contest