Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Main Event
Day 1a Completed
After 10 Levels of play, 127 entries to the 2015 partypoker.net WPT Montreal here at Playground Poker Club came to a close with just 45 players remaining. Coasting up top was Brian Altman, bagging 221,600 chips for Monday's Day 2 as the only player to top 200,000. The next-best stack is that of Jacques Frenette of 190,400.
Altman joined the WPT Champions Club earlier this year when he claimed the title at WPT Lucky Hearts. That win back in February earned him $723,008, and he's well on his way to make another deep run here in Montreal.
There were quite a few other notable players among the late-day survivors. Mike Leah (107,700), Jeff Madsen (86,900), Anthony Zinno (77,000), Antonio Esfandiari (29,600), Will Failla (79,800), Mike Watson (38,900), and Dylan Wilkerson (28,300) will all be back on Monday.
Some of the players to buy in today but fail to hold on to chips include Eric Afriat, Freddy Deeb, Jeff Gross, Kevin MacPhee, Sam Chartier, Mike McDonald, Jonathan Duhamel, and Darren Elias.
Another field of players will fill the tables tomorrow to try to qualify for Day 2. Day 1b will kick off at 11 a.m. and those who don't make it will still have one more chance in Sunday's Day 1c.
PokerNews will be back for live updates of all the action from the first card to the last. Until then, have a great night!
Here are the official chip counts for Day 1a's 45 surviving players.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Brian Altman |
221,600
221,600
|
221,600 |
|
||
Jacques Frenette
|
190,400
-7,600
|
-7,600 |
Jared Mahoney |
181,900
181,900
|
181,900 |
|
||
Alex Keating |
181,500
181,500
|
181,500 |
Thomas Lefort |
156,200
156,200
|
156,200 |
Samuel Barre |
151,800
151,800
|
151,800 |
John McLeod |
144,700
144,700
|
144,700 |
TJ Ulmer
|
140,000
140,000
|
140,000 |
Jair Beltran |
121,700
121,700
|
121,700 |
Tanner Millen |
111,400
111,400
|
111,400 |
Ibrahim Haddad |
110,100
110,100
|
110,100 |
Mike Leah |
107,700
-21,300
|
-21,300 |
|
||
John Krpan |
107,000
107,000
|
107,000 |
James Yang |
104,200
104,200
|
104,200 |
Samuel Phillips |
92,700
92,700
|
92,700 |
Pascal Lefrancois |
91,300
1,300
|
1,300 |
Kevin MacDonald |
90,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
David Cowling |
89,000
89,000
|
89,000 |
Steven Martin |
88,900
88,900
|
88,900 |
Heldar Junior
|
88,700
88,700
|
88,700 |
Herbert Montabalno
|
87,900
87,900
|
87,900 |
Jeff Madsen |
86,900
-38,100
|
-38,100 |
Sebastian Tejada |
84,100
84,100
|
84,100 |
Will Failla |
79,800
37,800
|
37,800 |
|
||
Anthony Zinno |
77,000
-10,000
|
-10,000 |
|
Here are just a few players from late in the day as Level 10 came to a close.
When John Krpan called Antonio Esfandiari's raise preflop, Esfandiari called out, "Johnnnnny!" in anticipation of their heads-up hand.
The dealer slid out and Krpan checked. Esfandiari bet 6,200.
When Krpan didn't fold right away, Esfandiari said, "He's a fighter, this one. Look at him. He's a fighter." Krpan made the call.
The turn was the and Krpan checked. Esfandiari bet 11,000 and said, "There's no shame in just giving up." Krpan thought for a moment. "You know how badly I don't want to come back tomorrow, right?" Esfandiari continued.
Krpan pushed forward a stack of blue 5,000 chips and Esfandiari instantly mucked. "See?" he said.
Anthony Zinno just called all in preflop and was holding to his opponent's .
The flop of put Zinno in the lead with a set, but the turn of put his opponent back in the lead with a straight. But the river flip-flopped it again as the gave Zinno the double-up with a fullhouse.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Anthony Zinno |
87,000
46,000
|
46,000 |
|
The player in the hijack seat raised to 2,300 preflop and was called by the player in the cutoff before Sebastian Sikorski pushed all in from the button. Antonio Esfandiari was in the big blind and went in the tank to decide his play.
In time, Esfandiari elected to call and the other two players let go of their hands.
Sikorski:
Esfandiari:
"I really don't want to come back tomorrow so I almost folded," Esfandiari said.
The flop came , then the turn was the , giving Esfandiari the flush outs. But the river was the and the two players chopped up the pot.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Antonio Esfandiari | 56,000 | |
|
||
Sebastian Sikorski |
31,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
Level: 10
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
As Level 9 comes to a close, here is an update on some of the stacks in the room. The final level of the day is about to get underway.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Yann Dion |
131,000
7,000
|
7,000 |
Mike Leah |
129,000
109,000
|
109,000 |
|
||
Jeff Madsen |
125,000
72,000
|
72,000 |
Pascal Lefrancois |
90,000
59,500
|
59,500 |
Antonio Esfandiari |
56,000
-28,000
|
-28,000 |
|
||
Will Failla |
42,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
||
Carter Swidler |
42,000
-45,000
|
-45,000 |
Anthony Zinno |
41,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
|
||
Sebastian Sikorski |
32,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
Mike Watson |
27,000
3,000
|
3,000 |
|
||
Dylan Wilkerson |
15,000
-13,500
|
-13,500 |
|
||
Benoit Jean |
10,000
-16,000
|
-16,000 |
Jeff Gross | Busted | |
|
||
Freddy Deeb | Busted | |
|
||
Eric Afriat | Busted | |
|
||
Thi Nguyen | Busted | |
Marco Caza | Busted | |
Ami Alibay | Busted |
Steve Martin peeled his cards and found two aces. He was the first into the pot preflop and he min-raised to 1,600. Just Eric Vallee called.
The dealer burned a card and swiped on the felt. Both players checked. The turn came down and Martin checked again. Vallee pushed all in with his short stack and Martin tossed in a single chip to indicate a call.
Vallee flipped over and said, "Nice hand" when he saw Martin's aces. The river was the and Vallee was eliminated.
"There's still tomorrow," another player said, hopefully.
"Ya, I'll be back tomorrow ... and Sunday and Monday too!" Vallee responded.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Eric Vallee | Busted |