The Main Event is now underway at one of the legendary stops on the World Poker Tour: the WPT Grand Prix de Paris at the famed Aviation Club de France in Paris. The Aviation Club was one of the original venues on the Tour when it hosted the seventh event, then called the Euro Finals of Poker, in Season 1. The casino and the Grand Prix de Paris were not on the World Poker Tour schedule for Seasons 5 through 8, but returned for Season 9 and have been there ever since.
France’s Jacques Enjoubault is the chip leader by a healthy margin coming out of Day 1A, bagging a pile of 225,200 chips at the end of the night. There are actually fairly large gaps between the top few players, who have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. In second place is Antony Lellouche, well behind Enjoubault with 178,275, followed by Basil Yaiche with 142,275. The only other player with over 100,000 chips is Pasi Heianen, who just barely cleared that mark with 100,500. Rounding out the top five is Juha Helppi with 96,200 chips.
Enjoubault still has a long way to go to even make the money, but should he ride his chip stack deep into the tournament, it would very likely result is the best cash of his live tournament career. To date, Enjoubault has just two cashes, both in his home country, totaling €6,375 ($8,390).
The most memorable hand of the day belonged to none other than Jacques Enjoubault, allowing him to put distance between himself and the rest of the field. Enjoubault limped pre-flop, followed by Scott Seiver. Another player raised, Enjoubault called, and Seiver took it up to 4,400. The other two called and dealer laid out 8-5-4 on the flop. Seiver bet 8,000 and just Enjoubault decided to call. The turn was a 2, upon which Enjoubault check-raised Seiver’s 19,000 bet up to 51,000. Seiver shoved and Enjoubault made the call. Seiver was likely pretty confident as he turned over pocket Kings, but somehow, Enjoubault showed up with 3-6 for a turned straight.
After his elimination, Seiver tweeted, “One of my saddest and also most absurd bustouts in as long as I can remember.”
Right after that, Enjoubault took out Mickael Layani to eclipse the 200,000 chip barrier.
There is one more starting flight for the WPT Grand Prix de Paris, going on right now. Just 96 players paid the €7,500 to play on Day 1A, but for most tournaments that is the lightest Day 1, so expect Day 1B to have a larger field. The tournament will need to see more than 200 players find their seats Tuesday in order to top last year’s field of 312. Check back tomorrow for more updates.
World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris – Day 1A Chip Leaders
1. Jacques Enjoubault – 225,200
2. Antony Lellouche – 178,275
3. Basil Yaiche – 142,475
4. Pasi Heinanen – 100,500
5. Juha Helppi – 96,200
6. Theo Jorgensen – 77,000
7. Dominik Nitsche – 71,200
8. Andrew Seidman – 69,875
9. Justin Bonomo – 69,725
10. Fabian Quoss – 69,675
