Michael Gathy Leads 50 Survivors into Day 3 of WPT Montreal
Another busy day at the 2016 Playground Poker Fall Classic has come to an end. At noon on Monday, 274 hopefuls returned for Day 2 of the partypoker.net World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal. By the end of the day, Belgian Michael Gathy sat atop the chip counts. Later in the evening, Event #11: $330 NL Hold’em 8-Max Freeze got underway with Placide Junior Sanon claiming the victory and a top prize of $14,732.
The WPT Montreal field has been cut down to just 50 players. Beginning the day with 274 players, play continued at a brisk, regular pace as the money bubble loomed at 82nd place. Tony Dunst, Kevin MacPhee, Griffin Benger, Jeff Gross, Mike Leah, Xuan Liu and Kristen Bicknell were just some of the big names to fall during the first few levels.
The bubble was reached at the start of level 18 and hand-for-hand play was brief. Akshay Sutar was the unfortunate bubble buster, falling in 82nd. The post-bubble blitz of eliminations captured Garrett Greer, Kyle Bowker, Keven Stammen, start of day chip leader Eric Afriat, Pascal Lefrancois and Jonathan Roy.
The day belonged to three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Michael Gathy. Gathy accumulated a stack of 860,000 to lead the pack. Hot on the Belgian’s heels are Ema Zajmovic (807,000), Tam Ho (800,000), Jason Mann (796,000) and Alex Keating (721,000).
Notables still in the mix include Jeffrey Cormier (559,000), Brian Altman (545,000), Jeff Rossiter (332,000), Ryan D’Angelo (326,000), Jason James (306,000), Darren Elias (304,000), Jake Schwartz (286,000) and partypoker ambassador Mike Sexton (96,000).
Day 3 resumes at noon on Tuesday inside the Playground Poker Club with five 90-minute levels on the schedule.
Event #11: $330 NL Hold’em 8-Max Freeze:
Anyone who didn’t find success in the WPT event found some consolation in a popular side event at the Fall Classic. A total of 259 players gathered for the 11th event of the festival creating a prize pool of $75,369 and smashing the guarantee of $40,000.
At just past 5 a.m early Tuesday morning, Placide Junior Sanon defeated heads-up opponent Martin Nadeau to claim victory, banking $14,732 and the champion’s trophy. Interestingly enough, Sanon and Nadeau had predicted their heads-up battle when the field still had more than 80 players left. Once they were all that was left, the two struck a deal, splitting the remainder evenly and leaving a prize of $1,500 for the eventual champ. Nadeau received $13,232 for his runner-up finish.
The event attracted Gary Lucci, Ari Engel, Joey Boczek, Jason Conforti, Paul Sokoloff, Jonathan Bussieres and Charles La Boissonniere, none of whom were able make anything happen. As the bubble approached, eliminations didn’t slow and the 26 remaining players found the money without even needing to sweat hand-for-hand action. World Cup of Cards multiple event winner Shawn Daigle was the first to bust in the money, earning a min-cash of $600 for 26th place.
When the final table of eight was set, Nadeau went to work minimizing the competition. First, he took out Marco Pontillo in eighth, followed by Grant Ellis in seventh, to retake the chip lead. Sanon and Nadeau then traded knockouts with Sanon eliminating Lukas Soucek in sixth and Nadeau removing Gerald Leblanc in fifth. The rest was all Sanon as the eventual champ took out his final three competitors. Han Qin fell in fourth and Alexander Matveev followed in third.
Final table results:
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Placide Junior Sanon | $14,730.00 |
| 2 | Martin Nadeau | $13,234.00 |
| 3 | Alexander Matveev | $9,070.00 |
| 4 | Han Qin | $6,850.00 |
| 5 | Gerald Leblanc | $5,170.00 |
| 6 | Lukas Soucek | $3,900.00 |
| 7 | Grant Ellis | $2,945.00 |
| 8 | Marco Giuseppe Pontillo | $2,220.00 |
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