Making a major final table of any kind is a milestone by any measure, and Patrick Tardif – best known by his online moniker ‘Egption’ – enjoyed one of the biggest of his career on Sunday.
The freshly minted WPT Global Ambassador got heads up for the WPT Summer Festival $3,500 Championship, and while Tardif ultimately finished second to ‘pas1161br’ there was much to be celebrated.
The $130,640 payout stands among the best cashes of Tardif’s career, and he got to share the moment with upwards of 1,200 viewers on his Twitch channel, who followed along with him for the entirety of Day 2.
“With the ups and the downs, seeing chat explode whenever things go well, and seeing chat explode where things don’t, it’s always a unique experience,” said Tardif. “Especially when things go well. I’ve been somebody that’s always livestreamed throughout almost my entire full-time poker-playing career, it’s essentially all been documented. And it’s nice to be able to share the moment with anyone that’s been supporting me.”
Since launching his Twitch channel in 2016, Tardif has amassed a following of more than 54,600 followers who have collectively streamed over 2.28 million hours of his content. He’s represented several different online poker platforms over the years, and in May Tardif signed on to become the newest ambassador for WPT Global.
“One thing that happens when you’re when you’re a streamer and you play on multiple sites is there’s definitely a little bit more pressure to try to make that deep run on the site that you’re sponsored by,” Tardif said. “Any time we play a tournament on WPT Global, there’s a little bit of, a little bit of stress added to hoping that I win some all-ins or get some good cards, because then that means I get more screen time for the site, and I’m able to show off the product a lot more.”
It was the culmination of a truly successful WPT Sumer Festival on WPT Global for Tardif, who also finished 10th in the WPT500 event and, at the same time he was making his run in the $3,500 WPT Championship, took third in the $220 Summer Festival Championship for another $25,859. On a stream that lasted nearly nine hours, Tardif made the most of a chance to showcase the platform.
“I am playing on a poker site that is still in its infancy, on the rise, and because of that a lot of professional players have not adopted playing on WPT yet,” said Tardif. “I’ve been enjoying the relatively softer games.
“This particular Sunday, everything seemed to be clicking. Not only did we have the run in the $3,500, but we had the well over 2000 player field, $200 tournament where we were very, very close to winning that one as well. When cards are going your way and things are going as well as they do, you feel pretty damn confident. I was able to put out one of my better performances and then finish with second.”
With this result, Tardif continued a trend of WPT Ambassadors making serious runs at a permanent spot on the WPT Mike Sexton Champions Cup. Fellow Ambassador Brad Owen, who also made a deep run on Sunday (finishing 31st), made the final table of the Season 21 WPT Gardens Championship as well as WPT Prime Montreal earlier this year.
WPT Montreal was Tardif’s first opportunity to represent the WPT brand, and his first time sporting a WPT Global patch. He took part in his first official meetup game at Playground Poker Club and also took part in all of the signature live tournament events on the schedule.
“There’s not very much that can rival a WPT event, especially the championship, and everything that comes along with it,” said Tardif. “Being able to be there for the return to Canada – we hadn’t had a WPT in Canada since 2020, and not in Montreal since 2018 – it was good to be there. Good to see Canadian poker reignite with WPT being there.”
Despite building up the majority of his following online as a streamer, Tardif is excited to step into the live arena as part of his new role as a WPT Global Ambassador. Over the last few years he’s managed several significant live results, including a career-best $159,157 cash in a $2,500 side event during WPT Fallsview in 2020, and a 97th place finish in the 2023 WSOP Main Event.
In the coming weeks, Tardif will make his first international appearance with WPT, and he’s looking forward to stepping into an entirely unknown environment to him.
“I’m heading to WPT Prime Liechtenstein, and I’ll get to see what WPT is like is out in Europe,” said Tardif. I’m really looking forward to exploring a part of Europe where I’ve never been, and I’m expecting as good of an experience as I would any other WPT; if they run a live series, it’s going to be a good one.”
On Wednesday, WPT’s return to Montreal was announced for October, which will be another chance for Tardif to play for a title closer to home. There’s also considerable excitement ahead for Tardif’s first WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas as an Ambassador.
But before he gets too wrapped up in the excitement of what’s to come, Tardif’s certainly enjoying the moment he’s in right now, banking the kind of major online result that should set him up well for the rest of the year while checking all the boxes WPT Global had for him when they brought him on board.
“I’ve got a permanent memory that can eventually get dropped into a YouTube highlight and some Instagram clips, and I’ll be able to reflect upon this moment for the rest of my life, which is always cool.”