World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris Day 4: Final Table Set; Matt Salsberg Leads

Matt Salsberg

On Friday, the World Poker Tour Season XI Grand Prix de Paris continued with Day 4 of the six-day reentry event. After nearly nine hours of play, the chip leader at the official final table is the executive producer of Showtime's Weeds Matt Salsberg with 1.757 million chips. Joining him at the final table are Mohsin Charania, Timothy Adams, Theo Jorgensen, Philipp Gruissem, and Fabian Quoss.

At the beginning of the day, 24 players had their sights set on the official final table, but only six could survive the day. There was a flurry of eliminations during the first level of play. The first player to bow out was Nicolas Cardyn, who ran Ax5x into Kyle Cheong’s AxKx. Cheong held, and Cardyn was out in 24th place.

Following Cardyn out the door were Andrew Lichtenberger, Dan Djorno, and Bruno Lopes. Djorno open-jammed with KJ from under the gun, Jérome Douieb re-shoved on his direct left with AA, and Bruno Lopes also shoved with KK. Douieb won, eliminating Djorno and crippling Lopes, who was eliminated shortly thereafter.

The next two players eliminated were Juha Helppi and Jean-Philippe Rohr. Both players were busted by Salsberg, who held aces against Helppi and kings against Rohr.

After the two-table redraw, Kyle Julius was the first to bust. Julius open-jammed his last 70,000 or so with J10, and Jorgensen called on the button with AJ. The board ran out 47J95, and Julius hit the rail.

Florian Leconte, Michael Kwierk, and Bryan Colin were eliminated in 17th, 16th, and 15th place respectively, and then things started to slow down. In fact, the next elimination didn’t come for a full hour.

In one of the final hands of Level 19, Jacques Enjoubault opened in early position, and the action folded to Salsberg, who moved all in from the big blind. Enjoubault called with AK, which dominated Salsberg’s AQ, but the board ran out A610Q8 and Enjoubault was eliminated in 14th place.

Daniel Amara and Raphaël Abitbol were the next two players eliminated. Amara was all in preflop with AxQx against Charania, who held two tens and flopped quads. Charania then won a race to bust Abitbol, who was all in and at risk with AK. Charania had JJ, and the board ran out 2771010.

Grégoire Boissenot was eliminated in 11th place when he made a pot-sized shove on a board of J108. Adams called the jam with J10, which dominated Boissenot’s QJ, and the turn and river came 2, 3 respectively.

Hand-for-hand play stretched out for nearly an hour, until Joe Serock busted in 10th place. Serock four-bet most of his stack preflop, and was called be Jorgensen. The flop was 1097, and Serock checked to Jorgensen who put him all in. Serock tanked for a bit, then called with A3. Jorgensen was ahead with AK, and the turn and river came 9, Q.

At the beginning of Level 21, the unofficial final table was set:

SeatNameChips
1Kyle Cheong187,000
2Matt Salsberg1,255,000
3Philipp Gruissem1,060,000
4Theo Jorgensen1,070,000
5Fabian Quoss221,000
6Jérome Douieb691,000
7Idris Ambraisse357,000
8Timothy Adams1,308,000
9Mohsin Charania703,000

On one of the first hands at the final table Cheong three-bet jammed with deuces, and Salsberg iso-jammed with jacks. The jacks held and Cheong was out in ninth.

A few hands later, Idris Ambraisse was eliminated in eighth place. Ambraisse opened from under the gun, and was called by Charania, Gruissem, and Douieb. The flop fell 1065, and when checked to, Ambraisse moved all in. Charania re-shoved, the action folded around and the hands were opened:

AmbraisseA8
CharaniaKK

Charania faded an ace and diamonds as the turn and river came 4, 3, and Ambraisse was out.

Play slowed considerably on the official final table bubble, and for the next two hours the seven remaining players battled long and hard. One of the players who benefited the most from the bubble was Charania. In one particular hand, Charania opened to 24,000 from under the gun, and Gruissem and Adams called. The flop fell J93, and the action checked to Charania who continued for 33,000. Gruissem raised to 90,000, Adams cold-called, and Charania reraised to 233,000.

Gruissem and Adams folded, and Charania picked up the pot.

Quoss nearly busted on the final table bubble. Quoss found himself all in and at risk holding AJ against Salsberg’s AQ, but the board ran out 2J8AK, doubling Quoss.

Unsurprisingly it was Salsberg who busted the eventual bubble boy; Douieb. In the final hand of the evening, Quoss opened to 35,000 from under the gun, Douieb moved all in for 281,000 on his direct left, and the action folded to Salsberg, who reshoved having both players covered. Quoss quickly folded, and the hands were tabled:

DouiebAQ
SalsbergAK

Salsberg held as the board ran out 36554, and Douieb was eliminated in seventh place.

Here’s how the final table looks:

SeatNameChips
1Matt Salsberg1,757,000
2Philipp Gruissem776,000
3Theo Jorgensen1,169,000
4Fabian Quoss570,000
5Timothy Adams1,198,000
6Mohsin Charania1,435,000

To date, Salsberg’s biggest live score was for $108,412 when he finished 70th in the 2011 WSOP Main Event. All the other players have multiple six-figure scores, including Jorgensen who won this event in Season IX. If Jorgensen, the only WPT Champions Club member remaining, were able to win on Saturday, he would become the first player to ever win a WPT event at the same stop twice.

The final table will begin at 1600 CEST (0700 PDT) on Saturday. Be sure to follow the PokerNews Live Reporting Team as they provide up-to-the-minute updates straight from the Aviation Club de France.

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