The survivors from the three starting flights got together for the unified Day 2 Monday at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Canadian Spring Championship. The field was culled significantly, as just 44 players remain out of the 294 that started the day. That also means the money bubble burst; Tyler Reiman was knocked out in 73rd place shortly after dinner, making him the most popular guy in the at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal. Leading the way going into Day 3 is Paul Klann, who with 1.793 million chips is one of just three players over the million chip mark.
Klann has an interesting live tournament resume (thank you, TheHendonMob.com). He has only five live cashes to his name, but he also has more than a million dollars in lifetime earnings. That is because he won the WPT L.A. Poker Classic back in February, a score of $1,004,090. He is now gunning for a second WPT title this year, an accomplishment that would put him in rarified air as one of the few people to win multiple WPT crowns. Klann actually came close to a second title in March, placing 11th in the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Main Event.
Also still in the field, though 1.4 million chips behind Klann, is Michael Linster, who won the 2013 WPT bestbet Open Main Event last week. Should he chip up and go on to take down this tournament, he would become just the second player ever to win back-to-back World Poker Tour titles. The only player to accomplish the feat was Marvin Rettenmaier, who won the WPT Championship in May 2012 and then WPT Cyprus in August of that year. Linster’s would be a little different, as the events would also come in back-to-back weeks, whereas Rettenmaiers were separated by months (the WPT Championship ended one season, while WPT Cyprus began another). Then again, the WPT Championship is a bit more prestigious than the WPT bestbet Open.
One other player that people were keeping an eye on was Jonathan Roy, who beat over 1,100 players to win the WPT Montreal title at this same venue in November. He made it to Day 2, but was unable to make the money, busting out just after the dinner break.
Tuesday’s action is just getting underway at the Playground Poker Club. The plan for today is, rather than playing a set number of levels, to whittle the field down to just 18 players, the final two tables. Expect the pace to slow today; though just 26 eliminations are needed to get to the stopping point, players will likely be cautious with their actions, looking to make their way up the money ladder and inch closer to a championship.
2013 WPT Canadian Spring Championship – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Paul Klann – 1,793,000
2. Jonathan Bardier – 1,356,000
3. Josh Field – 1,078,000
4. Amirmasoud Babakhani – 925,000
5. Brian Beggs – 851,000
6. Daniel Suied – 820,000
7. Jason Duval – 805,000
8. Derek Lerner – 775,000
9. Robin Bergren – 741,000
10. Ravi Raghavan – 682,000
