It was a short Day 3 at the 2015 World Poker Tour Canadian Spring Championship Main Event as the field was narrowed from 45 to just 15 before prime time television started. Three men have separated themselves from the pack: chip leader Samuel Tsehai, who has 1.522 million chips, Sheraz Nasir with 1.207 million, and Trevor Delaney with 1.141 million chips.
Tsehai got there thanks to a massive hand near the end of the night. According to WPT.com, Ari Engel, the chip leader entering Day 3, raised pre-flop to 35,000 (big blind was 16,000) and Tsehai re-raised him to 101,000. Engel was unfazed, as he four-bet all-in for 310,000, but that wasn’t enough for Tsehai, who five-bet all-in. Covered, Engel called all-in for about 490,000 chips with A-J suited hearts. Tsehai had A-K offsuit, so Engel was going to need a bunch of hearts or a Jack. Both hit their Ace on the flop, but that was it for either of them and Engel was out of the tournament in 17th place. That pot took Samuel Tsehai’s stack up over 1.3 million.
With CAD $255,408 on the line for first place, winning this tournament would be big for just about anyone, but for Samuel Tsehai, it would be amazing. Looking at his profile at TheHendonMob.com, he has just four live tournament cashes totaling $46,981. As he will finish in no worse than 15th place, Tsehai is guaranteed to make about a quarter of his lifetime earnings, but is obviously in great shape to do much better. Should he place fifth, he will double (or more, depending on how far he goes) his lifetime total. I did the currency conversions and everything.
Sheraz Nasir, the second place player at the moment, is in a similar situation. He only has $62,348 in career winnings, more than half of it from a tenth place finish at WPT Montreal. Oh, and look at that – the other player with over a million chips, Trevor Delaney, also has the potential for an unprecedented cash. He only has $40,910 in winnings. His six cashes before this one are very spread out, too: he had one in 2008, two in 2009, and then one in each of 2013, 2014, and 2015.
The tournament will pick up at noon on Tuesday as the field is narrowed to the six-handed final table.
2015 World Poker Tour Canadian Spring Championship Main Event – Day 3 Chip Counts
1. Samuel Tsehai – 1,522,000
2. Sheraz Nasir – 1,207,000
3. Trevor Delaney – 1,141,000
4. Eric Afriat – 765,000
5. Lu Zhang – 733,000
6. Jonathan Karamalikis – 701,000
7. Levi Stevens – 691,000
8. Gary Lucci – 682,000
9. Robert Taylor – 607,000
10. John Krpan – 600,000
11. Pascal Lefrancois – 538,000
12. Edmund Campion – 492,000
13. Senthuran Vijayaratnam – 464,000
14. Dylan Wilkerson – 436,000
15. Jeff Gross – 299,000