Players in the WPT Montreal’s Day 1c starting flight have just completed their first break of the day. Two levels is too quick for very many players to have built up large stacks, but there was one player – Eric Aucoin – who has managed to accumulate over 82K already. We’ll be updating the leaderboard at each break today so we’ll see if Eric is able to keep accumulating today.
Back from the 1st break
- Level: 3
- Small Blind: 75
- Big Blind: 150
- Ante: 25
- Chip Average: 30.5K
- Remaining: 332
- Entries: 338
Early photos from Day 1c
- Level: 2
- Small Blind: 75
- Big Blind: 150
- Ante: 0
- Chip Average: 30K
- Remaining: 320
- Entries: 320
More big names
- Level: 2
- Small Blind: 75
- Big Blind: 150
- Ante: 0
- Chip Average: 30K
- Remaining: 318
- Entries: 318
In three categories…
From the US
- Dan Kelly
- Ankush Mandavia
- Anthony Zinno
- Mike Linster
- Pratyush Buddiga
- Paul Klann
From Canada
- Xuan Liu
- Matt Jarvis
- Steve Kerr
Locals
- Carter Swidler
- Chanracy Khun
- Jonathan Driscoll
- David Barter
- Rayan Chamas
Good luck to all!
Some local notables
- Level: 1
- Small Blind: 50
- Big Blind: 100
- Ante: 0
- Chip Average: 30K
- Remaining: 297
- Entries: 297
The WPT Montreal always attracts is fair share – or more – of top “name” pros, but there are also a lot of more locally well-known players who may not be full-time poker players or travel the circuit extensively, but still have significant results on their resume, both at Playground and internationally.
Here’s a sample of some of these players to watch.
- Carla Sabini – Carla is a fixture in big events here at Playground Poker, but also spends a lot of time travelling to events around the world. She had a great week in London last year when she used her winnings from a 30th place finish in the EPT London Main Event to buy in to the High Roller event – and made it to the final table, finishing 4th!
- Michael Korovine – Michael is a Playground regular who also has the distinction of being the player with the most cashes in big events held here at the club (17). Michael is no stranger to big tournaments and is always a threat to go deep in any event he enters.
- Vincent Jacques – Vincent is a talented young pro who has been on the edge of a big poker breakthrough for a while now. Vincent came 2nd in the recent Canada Cup Main Event held here at Playground poker, and also came 2nd in a WSOP Hold’em tournament a few years ago. Between the two he has cashed in events all over North America.
- Alexandre Lavigne – Alexandre stretches the definition of “local” – he’s from Quebec City, 3 hours away. Nevertheless he belongs on this list because of his amazing run of success in events at Playground Poker Club, starting with a final table appearance (he finished 6th) in the 2013 WPT Montreal. He also has the distinction of having won the very first seat for the 2014 WPT Montreal. He won a $550 event in the summer, and as a bonus, he played Antonio Esfandiari in a heads-up match with an entry in this event as the prize – which he proceeded to win.
Cards are in the air for Day 1c
- Level: 1
- Small Blind: 50
- Big Blind: 100
- Ante: 0
- Chip Average: 30K
- Remaining: 254
- Entries: 254
Players have taken their seats, announcements have been made, and cards are now in the air for Day 1c of the 2014 WPT Montreal! As anticipated, there are already more players at the tables today than on either of the previous Day 1s, and with late registration open for another 7 hours (5 3/4 hour-long levels, 2 15-minute breaks, and the 45 minute dinner break) that number will most likely climb a great deal more.
We’ll be following the action all day with photos and tournament updates, and be sure to follow the WPT Live Updates site for more tournament news and info.
Day 1c is just about set
It’s a beautiful Saturday in the Montreal area and final preparations are being made to welcome players to Playground Poker Club for Day 1c in the WPT Montreal. Today is the final starting flight of this year’s WPT Montreal, and as usual it is certain to be the largest starting day, and likely by quite a margin.
One of the factors that will increase participation today is the fact that a majority of the over 140 live satellite winners have not yet entered the tournament, not to mention the fact that there are still many pros who have not yet qualified for Day 2.
There are three promotions players should keep in mind today. First – the chip leader at the dinner break will receive a pair of Partypoker-branded Monster DNA headphones (courtesy of PartyPoker), and the chip leader at the end of the day will receive Monster DNA headphones courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
The third promotion is pretty amazing – any player that makes a Royal Flush today (using both hole cards, whether the hand goes to showdown or not) will win a free WPT Cruise (with a +1 as well)!
Good luck to all of the players today!
WPT Montreal Day 1b – final chip counts
Here are the day-end chip counts for Day 1b of the WPT Montreal, Event 6 of the 2014 Playground Poker Fall Classic. There were a total of 209 entrants in the 2nd of 3 starting flights in the event, and 86 players have qualified for Day 2.
Day 1c runs tomorrow (Saturday November 22nd) at 11am. Any player who wishes to do so my re-enter the tournament on Day 1c. Players who qualify for Day 2 from multiple starting flights will have their smallest stack(s) removed from play.
Note that these are unverified player-counted chip counts. All chips have been sealed in bags until they return to play on Day 2.
First Name | Last Name | Chip Count |
---|---|---|
Mike | Leah | 297,000 |
Alim | Perales | 189,500 |
Sheraz | Nasir | 179,900 |
Jonathan | Jaffe | 173,000 |
Mark | Darner | 162,700 |
Harut | Arutyunyan | 154,700 |
Maduka | Meragal | 145,100 |
Christian | Harder | 140,200 |
Yannick | Gauthier | 140,100 |
David | Williams | 139,000 |
Max | Greewood | 135,100 |
Douglas | James | 129,400 |
Edward | Arnold | 123,600 |
Mark | Harding | 120,400 |
Maurice | Hawkins | 114,600 |
Janet | Callaway | 110,500 |
Boyd | Oneill | 110,300 |
Scott | Diver | 110,100 |
Brandon | Steven | 104,700 |
Christopher | Dixon Bell | 102,900 |
Kalpesh | Raichura | 101,100 |
Bob | Green | 100,100 |
Todd | Terry | 100,000 |
Nicholas | Petrangelo | 99,000 |
Christopher | Clisby | 98,900 |
Andrew | Frankenberger | 97,900 |
Asem | Alsaadi | 94,600 |
Jeffrey | Mulder | 89,500 |
Gerald | Macleod | 89,300 |
Vlad | Mezheritsky | 87,000 |
Justin | Gardenhire | 84,900 |
Marco | Caza | 84,000 |
Alberto | Scuderi | 82,400 |
Philippe | Plouffe | 79,100 |
Zennawi | Petros | 76,500 |
Byron | Kaverman | 70,400 |
Niall | Farrell | 69,200 |
David | Quang | 67,200 |
Ricardo | Alvarado | 66,600 |
Jason | Mercier | 66,100 |
Philip | Hui | 66,100 |
Serge | Cantin | 65,600 |
Jimmy | Lee | 62,600 |
Afshin | Majidi | 62,000 |
David | Bolduc Hamel | 60,100 |
Eraldo | Edouard | 57,400 |
David Francis | Mcmann | 57,100 |
Julien | Fauteux Delorme | 51,200 |
Tyler | St Clair | 49,000 |
Francois | Graton-Valiquette | 47,400 |
Mike | McDonald | 46,200 |
Benjamin | Leblond | 46,100 |
Danny | Qutami | 44,500 |
Joshua | Tieman | 43,800 |
Todd | Sisley | 42,400 |
Ki Joon | Nam | 42,300 |
Matthew | Marafioti | 42,100 |
Tamer | Alkamli | 41,000 |
Gregory | Marcus | 40,000 |
Yassin | Choukri | 39,200 |
Osman | Soubra | 39,000 |
Micah | Raskin | 38,400 |
Deron | Noksana | 38,300 |
Erwann | Pecheux | 36,600 |
Edgar | Pavao | 36,200 |
Danielle | Micallef | 33,900 |
Shaun | Suller | 33,100 |
Christopher | Annouza | 31,000 |
Kyle | Wilson | 30,000 |
Bartosz | Sobolewski | 28,700 |
Jeff | Madsen | 28,400 |
Macradij | Yacoubian | 27,900 |
Lucas | Greenwood | 26,900 |
Viken | Artinian | 26,600 |
Spencer | Stacey | 26,100 |
Jeffrey | Vandenberg | 25,900 |
Arthur | W | 25,400 |
Ben | Menache | 25,000 |
Douglas | Watson | 23,600 |
Linda | Huard | 23,300 |
Peter | Jetten | 21,400 |
Jiachen | Gong | 19,800 |
Ryan | Cairns | 19,200 |
Scott | Anderson | 18,900 |
Daniel | Smith | 14,500 |
Stephane | Houle | 12,900 |
More players competing for the chip lead
- Level: 8
- Small Blind: 300
- Big Blind: 600
- Ante: 75
- Chip Average: 48.2K
- Remaining: 130
- Entries: 209
In just a level and a half following the dinner break – when only Mike Leah was near the 150K mark and only a single other player held over 100K – and there are two new players vying for the top spot. Both Jonathan Jaffe and Mark Darner have chipped up considerably since we last checked and both of them have joined Mike near the top of the leaderboard with 2.5 levels left to play tonight.
The final break of the day will take place after this level (in about 25 minutes).
Dinner break – chip leaders and other stacks
- Level: 7
- Small Blind: 250
- Big Blind: 500
- Ante: 75
- Chip Average: 41.3K
- Remaining: 152
- Entries: 209
The players have just returned to the tables after the 45-minute dinner break. During the break we found just two players who can rightfully be called “chip leaders” as they are the only two players over 100K in chips. Interestingly, they’re both playing on Table 54.
- Mike Leah – 149K
- Linda Huard – 116K
Trailing the leaders are several players in the 80-90K range, so we’re certain to see some marked stack-growth in the coming levels.
Some other notable players’ counts during the break – organized into fun categories.
“Team Quebec”
- Guillaume Rivet – 53K
- Laurence Grondin – 13K
- Chris McClung – 50K
- Rayan Chamas – 21K
- Jean-Philippe Piquette – 24K
- Philippe Plouffe – 53K
Only players named “Greenwood”
- Max Greenwood – 88K
- Lucas Greenwood – 30K
Past winners/finalists in Playground Events
- Alim Perales – 78K
- Jason Comtois – 12K
- Serge Cantin – 11K
And more…
- Kara Scott – 20K
- Dan Smith – 52K
- Byron Kaverman – 83K
- Jason Mercier – 51K
- Jeff Madsen – 55K
- Antonio Esfandiari – 28K
- Paul Klann – 10K
- Daniel Strelitz – 40K
- Will Failla – 51K
- Christian Harder – 45K
- Andrew Frankenberger – 44K
- Michael McDonald – 35K
- Pratyush Buddiga – 19K
- Todd Terry – 35K
- Matt Marafioti – 12K
Add Mercier and Esfandiari to the mix…
- Level: 6
- Small Blind: 200
- Big Blind: 400
- Ante: 50
- Chip Average: 36.7K
- Remaining: 169
- Entries: 208
Both Jason Mercier and Antonio Esfandiari have taken their seats in Day 1b of the WPT Montreal. Antonio has been seated directly to the left of Mike Leah – on a table that has had a lot of chips on it from the beginning when the set-over-set-over-set hand occurred earlier this afternoon.
The last time we checked, Mike Leah had grown his stack to over 125K within his first level at the table, so the potential is there…
Will there be fireworks? Only time will tell.