2013 WPT Canadian Spring Championship Day 3: Piccioli Leads Final 18
The 2013 PartyPoker World Poker Tour Canadian Spring Championship continued on Tuesday with Day 3 action from the Playground Poker Club in Montreal. The final 44 players of the 735-entry field returned to battle down to the final 18, and after four 90-minute levels of play, that number was reached with Bryan Piccioli and his stack of 3.441 million leading the way.
End-of-Day 3 Top 10 Counts
| Rank | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bryan Piccioli | 3,441,000 |
| 2 | Amir Babakhani | 3,321,000 |
| 3 | Christian Harder | 1,922,000 |
| 4 | Brant David Kostandoff | 1,795,000 |
| 5 | Ravi Raghavan | 1,394,000 |
| 6 | Carter Swidler | 1,310,000 |
| 7 | Danny Suied | 1,200,000 |
| 8 | Allen Butkovic | 1,041,000 |
| 9 | Jason Duval | 1,015,000 |
| 10 | Tao Liang | 956,000 |
Play recommenced in Level 21 (6,000/12,000/2,000), and it didn’t take long for the first elimination to occur. According to the WPT Live Updates Team, it happened when Jason James opened for 24,000 from middle position only to have Yves Loiselle move all in for 167,000 from the hijack. The rest of the table folded, James called with the A♦Q♠, and Loiselle was in trouble with the A♣10♥. The board ran out J♠8♥4♣3♠7♣, and Loiselle hit the rail in 44th place for $10,058.
He was soon joined on the rail by the likes of Vincent Cheung (43rd), Ralph El Ammar (42nd), James (41st), Jason Hallee (40th), Luciano Iacovella (39th), Doris Charlebois (38th) and Francis Labonte (37th), all of who took home $10,058.
After the eliminations of Michael Smith (36th - $11,734) and Sasa Stancic (35th - $11,734), the WPT Season XI Borgata Poker Open champion, Ben Hamnett, had his dreams of a second title cut short. It happened in Level 22 (8,000/16,000/2,000) when Christian Harder opened for 35,000 from early position only to have Hamnett, who has been featured in our recent WPT on FSN recaps, three-bet all in for 330,000 from the cutoff. Martin Leblanc then moved all in over the top from the big blind, and Harder got out of the way.
Hamnett: A♥J♠
Leblanc: K♣K♦
According to the PokerNews Odds Calculator, Hamnett had a 28.61% chance of surviving the hand, though that dropped to 15.66% on the 10♦8♠6♦ flop. The Q♠ turn brought it up a bit to 20.45% as Hamnett picked up a double-gutted straight draw, but it wouldn’t come in as the 7♠ blanked on the river. Hamnett was eliminated in 34th place for $11,734.
From there, Will Ma (33rd), Mike Linster (32nd), David Quang (31st), Andrew St. John (30th), Ricky Tang (29th) and Mike Vecia (28th) were all sent to the payout desk to collect $11,734. Bradley Smith managed to climb the payout latter, but ultimately fell in 27th place for $13,410 after running the A♣K♠ into the K♣K♦ of start-of-the-day chip leader Paul Klann.
The next to go was Derek Lerner, who fell in Level 23 (10,000/20,000/3,000). It happened when Danny Suied opened from middle position only to have Lerner three-bet from the cutoff. The button and blinds folded, Suied four-bet to 275,000, and Lerner called off.
Lerner: K♠K♣
Suied: A♥J♠
Lerner got it in good, but his kings wouldn’t hold as the A♣Q♥J♥ flop gave Suied two pair. Neither the 9♦ turn nor 5♦ river helped Lerner, who he was bounced in 26th place for $13,410. He was soon followed out the door by Richard Hubbard (25th - $13,410), Eddie Bangash (24th - $15,297), Michael Malm (23rd - $15,297), Robert Brown (22nd - $15,297), Klann (21st - $17,182), Kyle Frey (20th - $17,182) and Robin Bergren (19th - $17,182).
Bergren’s demise came in Level 24 (12,000/24,000/4,000) courtesy of Piccioli. It happened when Piccioli opened for 56,000 from the cutoff and then called when Bergren moved all in for 415,000 from the big blind.
Piccioli: 6♦6♥
Bergren: J♦8♥
Bergren held two overs but was left wanting as the board ran out Q♦7♠5♦4♣5♠. Bergren became the day’s last elimination while Piccioli finished as the chip leader with just 18 players left.
Others who advanced to Day 4 include Martin Leblanc (822,000), Jonathan Bardier (789,000), Brian Beggs (745,000), Josh Field (656,000), Barry Kruger (628,000), Ronnie Bardah (405,000), Jaspal Brar (345,000) and Stephane Alaire (259,000).
Day 4 will kick off at 11 a.m. EST on Wednesday, and the remaining 18 players will play down to the final table of six. Until then, check out the following interview with Piccioli, who finished as the ClubWPT Player of the Day.
*Photo, data and video courtesy of WPT.
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