The PartyPoker WPT Montreal Main Event has come to a close after 5 days of action packed poker, and of the 862 entries that we saw come and go, it was Derrick Rosenbarger that was the last one standing! After coming in to the final table as one of the shorter stacks, Derrick managed to build some momentum progressively throughout the night, and went on to defeat poker pro Mukul Pahuja in a heated heads-up battle to emerge as the champion. His victory earned him a $517,049 prize, as well as a $15,400 seat to the WPT World Championship, a beautiful WPT Montreal Belt, and an eternal spot engraved amongst the past WPT Champions on the WPT Trophy!

On the last hand, Derrick put in a minimum raise from the small blind, and quickly called when Mukul moved in over the top. He showed a pair of , and was far ahead of Mukul’s . The board was no threat to the pair of queens, showing , and Derrick gave a fist pump when he realised what had just happened.

Congratulations on your victory Derrick!

WPT Montreal Champion: Derrick Rosenbarger, $517,049, plus a $15,400 seat to the WPT World Championship, and the WPT Montreal Champion’s Belt

2nd place: Mukul Pahuja, $362,430

 

After a gruelling spell of heads up play that saw several back-and-forth swings of the chip lead, Derrick Rosenbarger has emerged victorious in the 2013 WPT Montreal! For the victory he takes home $517,049 in cash, a seat in the WPT World Championship later this year, he gets his name on the WPT Cup – and he wins Playground Poker’s WPT Champion’s Belt!

In second place tonight was Mukul Pahuja, who tilted the affair in his direction a few times during the night but couldn’t quite get the job finished, although not because of a lack of effort or poker talent.

Congratulations to both!

The Champion: Derrick Rosenbarger, $517,049

2nd place: Mukul Pahuja, $362,430

The stage is set, the lights are on and the cameras are in place here at Playground Poker Club, where in a few short hours we will be hosting the Final Table of the Party Poker WPT Montreal Main Event.

Mukul Pahuja, 5,945,000

Only 6 players remain out of the 862 entrants that participated in this years Main Event, and the televised table is headlined by New York pro Mukul Pahuja, who is bringing a healthy stack of nearly 6 million. He is the most experienced poker player of the six, and has been actively playing big live events for a number of years now. Although he’s had a lot of success in his career, including a 3rd place finish in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood earlier this year, where he turned his $5,300 investment into a $872,625 payout, he is still in pursuit of his first major event title. He is being railed by his brother and fellow poker pro Vineet Pahuja, who made the final table of the Full Tilt Poker Montreal Festival Main Event earlier this year, finishing in 5th place. Vineet is also well know in the poker circuit, but, much like his brother, has yet to win a big event. Maybe this will be the one for the Pahuja family!

Sylvain Siebert, 8,435,000

The chip leader coming into today is Sylvain Siebert, who doesn’t have too much experience deep in big events, but did manage to make last year’s final table of the WPT Montreal, finishing in 5th place. Him and his almost 8.5 million chip stack are looking to improve on that score this year, and he is definitely in the right spot to do so.

Serge Cantin, 6,960,000

Not far behind Sylvain in chips is Serge Cantin, who, although being unknown for the most part in the poker world, did make a deep run in last years WPT Montreal Main Event. Him and Sylvain played together in the later stages of the tournament, but Serge fell just short of the official final table of, finishing in 7th place.

Lily Kiletto, 370,000

The shortstack of the final table is Lily Kiletto, who has a stack of 370K, good for just over 6 big blinds. This fierce tournament player is not to be underestimated though, as she has quite a bit of experience in the poker world, and has already made a WPT Final table, when she finished runner up in the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in Hollywood earlier this year. She is being railed by known poker pro James Caldarero, who also played in the WPT Montreal Main Event and the Fall Classic High Roller.

Derrick Rosenbarger, 1,985,000

Derrick Rosenbarger, who is coming back today with nearly 2 million chips, is a US Airforce pilot from Destin, Florida. Although he doesn’t have much experience in big live events, he has proven to be a worthy opponent who is capable of mixing up his game and playing with the best. We saw him be very active throughout the Main Event, and even pull some magnificent bluff, including a triple-barrel bluff versus Ludovic Lacay in the late stages of Day 4.

Alexandre Lavigne, 2,150,000

The final player on this final table is local Alexandre Lavigne, who also doesn’t have much experience in the bigger events. This is looking to be his first significant cash, and if he keeps up his solid performance, he has a chance of making a nice score.

There is a huge gap in the chips in this final table, as the top three all sit on stacks of 5.9M or more, and hold over 80% of the wealth, and the bottom three are all below 2.2M. The average stack is still of 66 big blinds though, so it really is anyone’s game.

The final table will start at 3pm today, and you can view the live stream here, which will begin at around 4:30pm. Chip counts and seating arrangements are available here.

Good luck to our 6 final table players!