For some reason, the second day of a major, week-long poker tournament always amuses me. You have hundreds of players who made it through their starting flight, a significant accomplishment for many, and then, just like that, most of them drop by the wayside when they return for Day 2. DOESN’T ANYONE CARE ABOUT THEIR CHIPS? HOW DO SO MANY PEOPLE GET ELIMINATED SO QUICKLY? And then, inevitably, it will take forever to get rid of the last couple tables of players before the final table. Take your time and enjoy the ride, for pete’s sake! There are no moral victories in poker; getting pas the first day is meaningless.
That said, there are 50 players remaining from the 247 that began Day 2 in the 2016 partypoker.net World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal Main Event. Michael Gathy is your chip leader with 860,000 chips, followed by Ema Zajmovic with 807,000 and Tam Ho with 800,000 on the nose.
Gathy isn’t exactly a household name amongst poker fans (heck, most of the best players aren’t nowadays with the dearth of televised poker in the U.S.), but he has had a lot of success on the live tournament circuit. He won his third World Series of Poker bracelet this summer and finished as the runner-up twice. With those plus two other in-the-money finishes, he is currently eighth in the 2016 WSOP Player of the Year standings. Perhaps interestingly, looking at his record on TheHendonMob.com, Gathy does not have a single World Poker Tour cash. In all, he has about $2.2 million in lifetime earnings.
Though he is the chip leader, Gathy was not involved in what may have been the most “made for TV” hand of the day. Early in Level 16, shortly after the dinner break, Ted Doukas raised to 8,500 pre-flop with pocket Kings and Kenneth Lindgren shoved for 50,500 with pocket Fives. Terris Preston decided to go all-in over the top of THAT with Queens and though Doukas needed to think about it (after all, two all-ins could indicate Aces), he did decided to make the call for 323,500. Both Doukas and Lindgren flopped their sets, though that was of little help to Lindgren, who was down to one out. A Four on the turn eliminated Preston and a fourth King on the river sealed the deal, giving Doukas the pot and the chip lead at the time with 705,000 chips. He finished the day a little bit south of that mark and will enter Day 3 in seventh place.
Speaking of Day 3, it is just getting underway at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal. Today will be relatively short as far as poker tournaments go, with just five 90-minute levels scheduled and no dinner break.
2016 partypoker.net WPT Montreal – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Michael Gathy – 860,000
2. Ema Zajmovic – 807,000
3. Tam Ho – 800,000
4. Jason Mann – 796,000
5. Alex Keating – 721,000
6. Robert McGhee – 711,000
7. Ted Doukas – 694,000
8. Antonin Duda – 633,000
9. Samuel Gagnon – 604,000
10. Jeffrey Cormier – 559,000
