Kevin Rabichow Bests Pascal Lefrancois to Win WPT Playground High Roller
In addition to the CAD $1,100 Prime Championship and CAD $3,500 Championship Event, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Playground also hosted a CAD $10,500 High Roller, a tournament that attracted 31 entries and awarded a CAD $640,000 prize pool, more than triple the CAD $200K guarantee.
The final table was dominated by Canadians with one exception, Australia��s Cooper Henry Bryant. However, the Aussie ended up falling in third place, one spot better than Chanracy Khun, who poker fans may remember defeated Doug Polk heads-up to win the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Event #8: $25,000 HU NLH Championship for $507,020 and a bracelet.
Speaking of WSOP bracelets, Canada��s Pascal Lefrancois won one by taking down the 2010 WSOP Event #8: $1,500 NLH for $568,974. In addition, Lefrancois won the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS in Barcelona in 2018 and was runner-up in the 2012 WPT Montreal, and he actually took down the 2020 $25,500 WPT Super High Roller at Seminole Hard Rock for $315,812.
Lefrancois made a deep run in the Playground High Roller, but ultimately fell to Kevin Rabichow in heads-up play.
Prior to the win, Rabichow had $4.15 million in lifetime tournament earnings dating back to 2011 according to The Hendon Mob, though he has been playing online since 2005. That includes a career-high $1,210,487 for finishing second to Michael Addamo in the 2021 WSOP Event #87: $100,000 High Roller. Rabichow also placed second to Ethan Yau in the 2022 WPT Wynn $25,000 High Roller for $518,940.
It wasn��t Rabichow��s first taste of success at Playground. Back in May 2019, he took second in the partypoker MILLIONS North America CAD $10,300 Main Event for $484,460.
A University of Chicago graduate with a degree in economics, Rabichow headed north to Toronto after Black Friday in order to continue playing online where he��s won millions. He��s also established himself as one of the industry��s premier coaches, and in 2022 he released a poker training course "The Game Plan" on Run It Once, which he talked about in this episode of the PokerNews Podcast.
2024 WPT Playground High Roller Results
| Place | Player | Hometown | Prize (CAD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kevin Rabichow | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | $211,120 |
| 2 | Pascal Lefrancois | St. Therese, Quebec, Canada | $154,640 |
| 3 | Cooper Henry Bryant | Sydney, Australia | $84,800 |
| 4 | Chanracy Khun | Blainville, Quebec, Canada | $57,600 |
| 5 | Stephen Nahm | Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada | $44,800 |
| 6 | Tommy Nguyen | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | $35,200 |
| 7 | Dustin Melanson | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | $28,800 |
| 8 | Joshua Andrew Justin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | $23,040 |
*Photos courtesy of Playground
