Each day the Main Event keeps getting bigger, and today`s Halloween crowd is likely to be the biggest of the week by far. With 171 very early in the day, today’s flight is likely to include hundreds of participants by the time the first break rolls around.
The first hands have just been dealt and play is now officially underway, so come down to Playground Poker Club on this rainy Wednesday and get in on the action!
Good luck to all the players!
Today is the final Day 1 starting flight in the $5,000 + $300 Main Event in the WPT Montreal Festival – Day 1C. Play will begin in just minutes in this final starting flight in the tournament, and it’s shaping up to be a truly massive day in the event. With the countdown reading 25 minutes to go, there are already 96 entries – and the pattern in Playground-hosted events is that players only register right when the event begins – so that number is going to climb extremely rapidly.
Play today will follow the same schedule as the other Day 1s held so far: 8 levels of 60 minutes each will be played, with breaks every 2nd level including a 45-minute long dinner break (with a buffet provided) following level 6. At the end of the 8 levels to be played today, everyone who has chips will bag them up to take to Day 2 in the event. There are already 137 Day 2 qualifiers, a number that should grow by quite a bit today.
Players should remember that this tournament allows an entry and a re-entry on Day 2 as well (until the beginning of level 11) – so if you’re not successful today, it’s not necessarily the end of the road for you in the event.
Good luck to everyone playing today!
The $5,000 + $300 Main Event is in full swing here at Playground Poker Club. This was the second of three days of live flights, and by the end of today’s Main Event Day 1B there had been a total of 172 entrants (including 28 re-entries), more than double the number of entrants than yesterday’s Day 1A.
The field is a very strong one, full of local and international poker pros of all stripes all vying for a piece of the guaranteed $5,000,000 prize pool. As the clock wound down, we made a quick pass around the remaining tables and took some photos of the chip leaders among the 88 players still playing.
The man of the hour remains Upeshka De Silva, who had the chip lead for most of the day, losing it only briefly in level 7 before regaining it in the 8th and final level. Congrats to all the players, we’ll see you on Day 2!
View the WPT Montreal Main Event Day 1 Combined Results page.
Mike Meskin raised to 600 preflop and Richard Alsup, Jordan Westmorland, and Khaly Dang all called. When the flop came down 
Richard bet 3,000. Khaly and Mike folded and Jordan called. After the turn was dealt both Richard and Jordan checked. When the river was revealed 
, Richard bet 4,500, and Jordan called.
At showdown, Richard didn’t have the cards to beat Jordan’s 
and Jordan stacked the pot.
After almost 8 full levels of play, the Main Event Day 1B is almost at a close.
Michael Khan, playing at table 27, was running low on chips, and when we happened across his table, we saw that he was already all in for his tournament life. His opponent was the chip leader for most of the day Upeshka De Silva.
The board showed 
and there was only about 15,000 in the pot.
While it was not life or death for Upeshka, he took the hand seriously, just as he has every hand so far tonight. For Michael, it literally was his tournament life on the line, so when he shoved all in Upeshka had to take a lengthy pause to review his options. Ultimately he decided to call the bet.
It was a rare misstep, as Michael flipped over his 
, making a boat 6’s full of 2’s. Upeshka mucked his hand, and so we’ll never know if he had a pair of 10’s , was holding a smaller boat, or something in between. That’s poker!
Jeffrey Cormier and Maxime Heroux have been seated at the same table all day, and we’ve seen a number of hands come down to a battle between these two players.
This time, now at level 7, we joined the action after the flop was already on the board.
Flop: 
Jeffrey acted first and raised 3,000 utg, and Maxime called.
Turn: 
This time Jeffrey checked, only to be raised by Maxime to 22,000. Jeffrey called.
River: 
While it was Jeffrey who opened the betting after the flop and Maxime on the turn, this time one wanted to raise the stakes. Both players checked and flipped over their cards, hoping to grab the near-60,000 chip pot.
Jeffrey: 
Maxime: 
This time it was Maxime who took it down, with his Aces besting Jeffrey’s Jacks. The battle continues!
