Monday, 26th December
Poker Dreams in Las Vegas
Last weekend the World Poker Tour 2022 World Championships took place at the famous Wynn Las Vegas. Scheduled to finish on Sunday, 18th December, it continued into the week to determine the new champion. It was a dream for Canada's Elliot Hudson who took home the prize of $4.1 million and can now call himself world champion. What makes the achievement so spectacular is that Hudson only started taking poker seriously about 3.5 years ago. Back then Hudson started with a $2,000 bankroll and invested $500 of that in an online poker training course. Starting with 50 cent to $5 tournaments, the holder of the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup now has his name etched in history.
Canada women claimed gold in the World Junior-B Curling Championships after they defeated Scotland 5-4 in Lohja, Finland. South Korea defeated Turkey 11-10 to take bronze. Canada, Scotland, and South Korea now progress to the World Junior Curling Championships 2023 in Fuessen, Germany, late in February.
Although not each team has played matches yet, the current standings of the FIH Pro Hockey League has Great Britain men and Argentina women leading the respective standings. The next round begins in February. England's men made history in Test cricket by becoming the first touring team to whitewash a test series again Pakistan by 3-0.
We only had three FIS Ski & Snowboard World Cup events last week. Alta Badia in Italy hosted the Men's Giant Slalom with Switzerland's Marco Odermatt claiming gold. Remaining in Italy, on this occasion it was Ski Cross at Innichen. Sweden's Sandra Naeslund and Canada's Reece Howden were the champions. Lastly, Switzerland's Daniel Yule won the Men's Slalom in Madonna di Campiglio.
Algeria's Nassim Saidi won the Arab Road Cycling Championships hosted in the United Arab Emirates. Great Britain's Isabel Wilkins and the Netherland's Jonathan van Rijsbergen are the 2022 World Freestyle Football Association Youth World Champions. Chess fans and experts were in Katowice, Poland, for the European Rapid & Blitz Championship. Spain's Jaimes Santos Latasa and the Czech Republic's David Navara are the new champions.
Understandably there were fewer major sports events last week. Ski & Snowboard World Cups increase this week as we build to the World Championships later in January. Today in Sydney was the start of the 2022 Sydney Hobart Yacht Race with the expectation that this could be the year for the winner to reach Hobart in the shortest time.
Until next time, have a great week in sport.