Some Tweets from the End of Day 1a

Here are some tweets posted by players at the end of Day 1a of the PartyPoker WPT Montreal Main Event.

Some of the Big Stacks

  • Level: 9
  • Small Blind: 400
  • Big Blind: 800
  • Ante: 100
  • Chip Average: 56.6K
  • Remaining: 114
  • Entries: 215


  • After a walk around the tournament room, we found a few players who have separated themselves from the field and grown some already impressive stacks.

    The five biggest ones we came across are the following:

    1. Amirmasoud Babakhani – 175K
    2. Sebastien Drolet-Poitras – 165K
    3. Daniel Dvoress – 145K
    4. Ludovic Lacay – 135K
    5. Ryan Nelson Franklin – 135K

    A Few Notables Still in Day 1a

  • Level: 9
  • Small Blind: 400
  • Big Blind: 800
  • Ante: 100
  • Chip Average: 52.4K
  • Remaining: 123
  • Entries: 215


  • Here are a few of the notable players still in the field today.

    Back from dinner

  • Level: 7
  • Small Blind: 250
  • Big Blind: 500
  • Ante: 75
  • Chip Average: 39K
  • Remaining: 163
  • Entries: 215


  • The players are back from their dinner break and with last-minute registrations from Faraz Jaka and Daniel Cates, the final tally of players for Day 1a is 215.

    FYI there are over 110 players in tonight’s satellite for the WPT as well…

    Dinner break!

  • Level: 7
  • Small Blind: 250
  • Big Blind: 500
  • Ante: 75
  • Chip Average: 39K
  • Remaining: 163
  • Entries: 212


  • The players are now on a 45-minute long dinner break. While the players are enjoying a nice buffet there are sure to be a few racing from the airport to try and make the end of late registration, which closes at the end of this break (in 35 minutes).

    There are a large number of household names (at least household names in poker-playing houses) in the event but some of the biggest names have already busted from Day 1a. Some of the eliminations so far include: Scott Siever, Antonio Esfandiari, Peter Jetten, Marvin Rettenmaier, and Chris Moorman.

    After the break, players will play another 4 levels with one 15-minute break after level 8. To qualify for Day 2, players will be at the tables until just before midnight.

    Remember – for players who don’t yet have a ticket for tomorrow, there is a $330 satellite that starts in 50 minutes (8pm).

    Second break of Day 1a

  • Level: 5
  • Small Blind: 150
  • Big Blind: 300
  • Ante: 50
  • Chip Average: 33.4K
  • Remaining: 187
  • Entries: 208


  • Day 1a of the WPT Montreal has reached its second break of the day and during the break we went searching for the chip leaders at this point.

    The top three that we found:

    • Marco Lang – 90K
    • Badri Aboud – 90K
    • Sebastien Drolet-Poitras – 80K

    Dean Murphy is not among the chip leaders, but he has rebuilt his stack to just under what he started with – at the break he had 28.3K, up from his low of 2.1K when his quads were beaten by a straight flush in level 1.

    Some of our Quebec Stars

  • Level: 3
  • Small Blind: 75
  • Big Blind: 150
  • Ante: 25
  • Chip Average: 31.3K
  • Remaining: 180
  • Entries: 189


  • Quebec has been producing a disproportionate number of great poker champions in the past few years, and a few of the best are playing today (with more due in Day 1b and Day 1c).

    A Few More Photos

  • Level: 3
  • Small Blind: 75
  • Big Blind: 150
  • Ante: 25
  • Chip Average: 31.3K
  • Remaining: 172
  • Entries: 184


  • Players have just returned from their first break of the day, and are playing in level 3 at the moment. Here are some photos taken during level 2 of today’s PartyPoker WPT Montreal Main Event:

    First break of the day

  • Level: 3
  • Small Blind: 75
  • Big Blind: 150
  • Ante: 25
  • Chip Average: 31.4K
  • Remaining: 175
  • Entries: 183


  • Players are taking their first 15-minute break of the day after two levels of play. There have only been 8 players to bust so far, but unfortunately three well-known Canadian players are among them: Shawn Buchanan from BC, and from Toronto, Michael Wywrot and Nicholas Verkaik.

    A story we’re going to follow today involves one of the Playground regs in the event, Dean Murphy, who lost a hand early in level 1 holding quads and surrendered over 90% of his starting stack. It’s amazing enough that he didn’t go broke – but even better for him is that he has managed to rebuild his stack to over 15.5K going into level 3. We’ll follow his progress today to see if he’s able to overcome that beat and at least go deep today – or even qualify for Day 2.

    Dean Murphy (photo from an earlier event)

    Registration keeps climbing

  • Level: 2
  • Small Blind: 75
  • Big Blind: 150
  • Ante: 0
  • Chip Average: 31.4K
  • Remaining: 173
  • Entries: 181


  • Judging by Twitter and some forums today is a big time “get to Montreal” travel day for players coming to play in the WPT Montreal, so registration keeps on climbing as the day progresses.

    There are quite a few Players Club members in the field today…