LIVE EVENTS

The WPT Montreal Main Event was an amazing race. 1109 entries were accounted for, enough to surpass the guarantee by over 10%. Players came in from the Online Day 1 & 2, three live starting flights and even the live Day 2, which allowed entries and re-entries for a duration of four levels. Towards the end of Day 2, the wonderful prize pool was being announced and the bubble came shortly after. The bubble burst was also the end of day, as Day 2 was coming to a halt when the money was reached. Day 3 started with 159 players at the tables, all of them in the money and ready to make that min cash grow. Already in Day 3, the field was looking extremely strong, with all-star players on every table. Only 10 of them made it to Day 4, including Mike Leah …

Joseph Cheong was sent to the rail after a very unfortunate trick from the deck. Cheong, called a “sicko” by expert commentator Ari Engel – a great compliment in poker – brought an unbelievable game to the final table. He managed to retain chips when he was down and even play a few tricks on his opponents, while maximizing his good hands. Lady luck, however, had a nasty fate for him in mind. Cheong opened to 700K and Adedapo Ajayi made the call. Geoffrey Hum, however, picked up a nice pair and 3bet to 2.8M. Cheong thought for a bit and announced all-in for a total of 8.6M chips. Ajayi got out of the way and Hum completed. Cheong: Hum: Board: A brutal flop for Cheong, especially considering that Ajayi had folded a jack. Cheong cashed $235,290 for his great performance. Congratulations! Adedapo Ajayi and …

Our three finalists are taking a short break. Here are the counts: Adedapo Ajayi – 19,100,000 Geoffrey Hum – 15,400,000 Joseph Cheong – 9,800,000

Geoffrey Hum, Adedapo Ajayi and Joseph Cheong are in the trenches, fighting for every pot and showing great skill. The 150K/250K/a250K does put a lot of pressure on the players, and so does the 3-handed nature of the game. Cheong started the 3-way affair as the small stack. He then doubled up on Ajayi to about 10M, before slipping back a little bit. He now doubled again when going all-in with on a flop. Ajayi made a huge call with , which acted as a bluff catcher with some ace and straight outs as back up. Cheong picked up a 13.6M pot and Ajayi is now third in chips.

Michael Watson, one of Canada’s most decorated poker players, was eliminated in 4th position. The hand started with Geoffrey raising to 450K. Michael Watson had a really good hand, especially in a 4-way game, and placed a huge 3bet. He put in 1.8M out of his 7.1M stack. Geoffrey, after some tanking, announced all-in, covering Mike twofold. After a call, both players went to a showdown, while Joseph Cheong was watching with great interest: Michael Watson: Geoffrey Hum: Board: Watson goes out in dramatic fashion. After hitting an unlikely non-spade jack to complete a straight, he was sent to the rail by a rivered flush. Great game Michael, and thank you for a great show! Prize: $180,000. Updated counts: Geoffrey Hum – 24,400,000 Adedapo Ajayi – 15,100,000 Joseph Cheong – 5,300,000

The WPTDeepstacks started on Friday Nov. 1st and had three starting flights for this $1500 + $150 marquee event as part of the WPT Montreal. There was a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool and when the late registration period came to a close, 596 players had entered (including re-entries) which helped to swell the prize pool to $867,180. The top 85 finishers were in the money, with a min-cash in 85th position paying $3,000, and, the Event Champion’s first place prize being $151,120. Some of the best names in the business showed up to play as the event attracted players from both near and far. Day 2 played out yesterday at 2:00pm when 128 players returned to play down to the final table. Once the final table was reached, play was paused so that the players could get some rest in order to come back and …

There have only been a few flops seen since the elimination of Santiago Plante as most hands have been won pre-flop. Then came this crucial hand. Action opened with an open shove by Jack Salter in the small blind and after giving it some thought, Patrick Quinn made the call in the big blind. Salter: Quinn: Salter was way ahead and Quinn needed some help. The flop came . The turn was the , and the river were also bricks for Quinn who went to pick up his payout slip for $72,980 after having played a great game.   Third place: Patrick Quinn, $72,980 Play is now heads-up. Salter: 14,125,000 chips (71 BB’s) Allison: 3,775,000 chips (19 BB’s) The two players have gone on break for 15 minutes.

Just after the players returned from their break, action folded to Santiago Plante who moved all in from the cutoff position. When it was Alexander James Allison’s turn to act in the small blind, he also went all in (over). Jack Salter folded his big blind and the cards were opened: Plante: Allison: Plante was behind and Allison also had both of his flush outs. The board ran out , and, Plante exits the room in fourth place after having played great, taking home $56,000 for his three days of poker. Allison is now sitting on 7,700,000 chips (51 BB’s)

The players have just returned from the second break of the day and with an average chip stack of 4,470,000, Jack Salter is in the lead with 5,925,000 (40 BB’s). Here the chip counts of the final four:

Ryan Yu has just been eliminated at the hands of Alexander Allison. Yu controlled one of the larger stacks in play for most of Day 2, but he had a tough run at the final table. The cards simply would not cooperate, as Yu was forced to fold in several spots after committing chips to the pot. As his stack dwindled and the blinds increased, he was eventually forced to get it in, and Alexander Allison benefited by capturing his chips and sending Yu to the rail. Yu will receive a $44,000 payout for his fifth place finish.

Event #7, the $250 + $50 + $250 Bounty was the last event of the WPT Montreal and it was a huge success. The tournament boasted a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool and in the end, it attracted 327 entries (including 92 re-entries) to help swell the prize pool to $76,845 in prize payouts plus another $76,845 in bounties! The day was action packed and you could hear the dealers announcing all ins from across the room on almost every table, as the play was very aggressive. Everyone wanted those $250 bounty chips, that was for sure. Frederic Robert dominated the early levels but in the end he made the money but did not make the final table. Play was very deep and the last two tables took hours to play out. Nobody wanted to bust as they all had their eyes on the final table …

Eric Nomberg limped his small blind and Christain Barbeau checked his option. The flop came and Nomberg checked again, followed by a bet of 300,000 by Barbeau. The turn came the , and one more time Nomberg checked. This time Barbeau fired 500,000, only to be met by an all in shove by Nomberg. Barbeau made the call and the hands were opened: Nomberg: Barbeau: Nomberg had limped his pocket jacks and Barbeau had flopped the flush draw. The river was a brick and Barbeau left the room in third place for $7,900, plus 17 bounty chips. The play is now heads up between Eric Nomberg and Gianpaolo Bini.

There have been bustouts happening left and right. 8th place: Christopher Tavares, $2,035 7th place: Yan Neiman, $2,600 Then Christian Barbeau opened to 150,000, and Phillip Vera made the call. Mathieau Boulanger-Vaugeois shoved his big blind, Barbeau called, and Vera decided to fold. Barbeau had the Big Slick (AK) and Boulanger-Vaugeois had pocket queens. There was a king on the flop, and Boulanger-Vaugeois finished in sixth place for $3,370. After Boulanger-Vaugeois left the table, Phillip Vera got it in with and was called by Erik Nomberg holding .. Unfortunately for Vera, the board ran out and Vera was sent to the rail in fifth place with an extra $4,420 in his pocket. Then it was Cedric Myer who fell when he got it in with and was called by Christian Barbeau holding . The board ran out Myer was out in fourth, collecting $5,870

There were a few more bustouts but then over the last hour the play had slowed down and as much as players tried to knock each other out, it seemed like no one was ready to go home. Finally a hand took place that saw Xiao Ming Liang get all of his chips in with a call from Phillip Vera that ended up sending Liang to the rail in 11th place. Liang: Vera: As much as Liang was way ahead, the board ran out v and that was the end of the day for Liang, who collected $1,300 (plus bounties) for his day of poker. A few hands later, there was the crucial hand that brought the rest of the field to the final table. Jesse Johnston, the tournament chip leader from the previous break had run into a few bad hands over the last …

The players just had another break and the chips have definitely been moving around the tables. The new leader is Jesse Johnston with 1,338,000 chips (53 BB’s) and in second is the chip leader from the first eight to ten levels of play, Frederic Robert with 1,156,000 chips (46 BB’s) . The pay jumps become quite large on the final table so some of the players will be shoving to double-up over the next level, and others will be thinking about the ICM considerations. Here is the newest leaderboard: