Although there was a throng of players that came out for Friday’s Day 1B action at the World Poker Tour’s stop in Montreal’s Playground Poker Club, the numbers are potentially coming up a bit short for the stop to make its $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Disregarding that, Simon Quintal ensured that he would take a day off on Saturday in amassing 303,900 in chips for the Day 1B and overall chip lead.
Topping Thursday’s start of day field, 186 players were on the felt for the start of action on Friday, with some of the eliminated from Day 1A pulling out another $1000 for a second bullet. WPT commentator Mike Sexton, Mike Leah and Gavin Smith were back for another taste of WPT action and they were joined by a host of newcomers. Marc-Etienne McLaughlin, Sylvain Siebert and Kara Scott were new arrivals for the Day 1B fun and games and at least one of the “newbies” would ensure they would go onto Sunday’s action.
Siebert wasn’t one of those as he departed early in the day. Dean Murphy raised the pot and four players, including Siebert, decided to join the party. On a 10-9-6 flop, Murphy fired out a continuation bet, but Siebert forced everyone but Murphy out by three betting the action. On an eight turn card, Murphy slowed down with a check but, after Siebert bet out, moved his stack to the center. Siebert made the call and exclaimed, “Oh, my God,” as Murphy showed pocket sevens for the straight against Siebert’s flopped 10-9 two pair. Looking for four outs, Siebert instead saw a four on the river and left in the early afternoon from the proceedings.
As the late registration period ended following the conclusion of Level 6, 308 players had stepped up to take part in Day 1B. Added to the 219 that came out on Thursday’s Day 1A, that made the total field as respectable 527 entries but it is far short of the guarantee for the tournament. If the WPT Canadian Spring Championship is to eclipse that mark, 473 players will have to come out on Saturday for action, a daunting task but one that is made easier by the re-entry nature of this tournament.
After burning through his first bullet on Thursday, Sexton would see another one miss its mark as he was eliminated only moments into Level 7. He wasn’t the only notable name to fall during the Day 1B battles as Sexton was joined by Smith (cruelly running his pocket Kings into pocket Aces), Antonio Esfandiari (also on his second bullet) and McLaughlin as the night wore on.
Scott, on the other hand, was slowly making her way through the Day 1B field, catching a King on the flop with her Big Slick against Stephen Dias’ pocket tens during mid-afternoon play to creep to the 51K mark. She would tread water around that area until one of the last hands of the night would ensure her appearance on Sunday for Day 2.
On the last hand of the day, Scott saw a bet and a raise in front of her before deciding to drop her 50K or so in chips onto the center of the baize. The original bettor got out of the way, but McKid Lim decided to make the call with only pocket Aces. Needing help for her pocket Queens, Scott saw a magical lady appear on the flop to seize the lead. When the turn and river didn’t bring Lim another Ace, Scott took down the more than 110K chip pot to sit nicely for Sunday among the 92 players who will also move on.
The top player for the day, like Day 1A chip leader Eric Davis, managed to avoid notice as he built a massive pile. A qualifier from partypoker, Simon Quintal, blasted past the 300K chip mark with his 303,900 in markers to take down the Day 1B and overall chip lead. Other players, such as Justin Miller (276,700), Francois Binette (258,700) and Joseph Verdugo (240,500), are at this moment among the Top Ten on the overall leaderboard and at least guaranteed to go to Day 2 with a healthy stack.
Day 1C is almost ready for action at the Playground and it should be a madhouse. Players who haven’t yet guaranteed their seat for Sunday’s action (or those not happy with the chip stacks they have accumulated over the first two Day Ones) will be flooding the tournament room as they look to grab the WPT “brass ring” of a championship AND grab their piece of the minimum million dollar prize pool. It should be a hectic day in Montreal as the WPT Canadian Spring Championship determines its final runners.
