Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Main Event
Day 1a Completed
The first stop on Season XIV of the World Poker Tour kicked off on Friday in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with the partypoker.net WPT Canadian Spring Championship. The first of two Day 1 flights drew 136 runners to Playground Poker Club with some 50 players surviving through 10 levels of play. Canadian pro Mike Leah grabbed the overnight chip lead, continuing a two-year tear that has seen him score two runner-up finishes in the 2015 WPT L.A Poker Classic and Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open and win his first World Series of Poker bracelet in Australia.
Leah schooled one local in series of pots to chip up early, then had the better hand and held as players like Mike Yacoubain and Samuel Chartier got it in against him late. He bagged 265,300 to finish ahead of a late charge from WSOP bracelet winner Pascal LeFrancois and local Rene Bourbeau.
Those hitting the rail included local stars like 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel, Philippe D'Auteuil, and WPT Champions Club member Eric Afriat.
However, this is a five-day tournament with two Day 1s and next-day reentry format, giving all who busted all another shot at things when Day 1b kicks off at 11 a.m. local time Saturday.
Once again the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand for it all with live updates and videos throughout. In the meantime, check out what Leah had to say in the following video with PokerNews' Caitlyn Howe:
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mike Leah |
265,300
-4,700
|
-4,700 |
|
||
Rene Bourbeau |
249,100
249,100
|
249,100 |
Pascal LeFrancois |
189,100
-20,900
|
-20,900 |
Ratharam Sivagnanam |
184,000
50,000
|
50,000 |
Angelo Cusinato |
174,200
5,200
|
5,200 |
Nicholas Palma |
122,800
122,800
|
122,800 |
Basil Laurin
|
120,600
120,600
|
120,600 |
Lucas Greenwood |
113,100
113,100
|
113,100 |
Ami Alibay |
108,800
108,800
|
108,800 |
Paul Theodore Klann
|
108,000
108,000
|
108,000 |
Doris Charlebois
|
107,800
107,800
|
107,800 |
Sheraz Nasir |
106,900
-28,100
|
-28,100 |
|
||
Danny Lauzon
|
105,800
105,800
|
105,800 |
Daniel Gagnon
|
104,600
104,600
|
104,600 |
George James |
96,000
96,000
|
96,000 |
Christopher Clisby
|
93,500
93,500
|
93,500 |
Ki Joon Nam
|
92,600
92,600
|
92,600 |
Timothy Reilly |
92,000
92,000
|
92,000 |
Robert Petronio |
90,900
90,900
|
90,900 |
Mathieu Martin
|
82,800
82,800
|
82,800 |
Michael Wang |
82,300
82,300
|
82,300 |
|
||
Malcom Harold Fraser |
70,300
70,300
|
70,300 |
Kane Kalas |
69,700
39,700
|
39,700 |
|
||
Ari Engel |
68,100
39,100
|
39,100 |
|
||
Todd Sisley |
66,500
66,500
|
66,500 |
Famed Shirtless 2010 WSOP bracelet winner Pascal LeFrancois is on over 200,000 now.
The Quebec local made short work of dinner break chip leader Brian Wang, busting him in two pots. Soon after, he took care of another player on 45,000 getting queens to hold over big slick.
LeFrancois now looks more interested in Game 1 of the NHL PLayoff series between the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning - Which is in now overtime tied 1-1 as Level 10 comes to a close and the players get ready to bag and tag.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Pascal LeFrancois | 210,000 |
Mike Leah has separated himself from the pack now after busting Samuel Chartier.
It was Leah's queens that did the trick, holding against Chartier's big slick in a 140,000 pot.
As a result, Leah's the first over 200,000 and pushing 300,000.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mike Leah |
270,000
98,000
|
98,000 |
|
||
Samuel Chartier | Busted |
Level: 10
Blinds: 500/1,000
Ante: 100
Quyen Dao slipped a little, but got things headed in the right direction again by pushing Lu Zhang off of a 50,000-chip pot with a shove on a board.
In the meantime, Marc-Etienne McLaughlin is now sitting on the other end of the table with 170,000 - Good for spot in the log jam developing at the top of the chip counts as the players ease into the last level of the night.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Marc-Etienne McLaughlin |
170,000
54,000
|
54,000 |
Quyen Dao |
110,000
-25,000
|
-25,000 |
Lu Zhang |
60,000
-30,000
|
-30,000 |
Angelo Cusinato has done it again...twice.
After flopping quads twice in the first few levels, he's now made quad aces and quad kings to make it four times today.
He's now neck in neck for the chip lead. Check the video below to hear what he told PokerNews' Cailtyn Howe about the first two:
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Angelo Cusinato |
169,000
-1,000
|
-1,000 |
After a bit of back and forth in a battle of two guys with the same first name, Mike Yacoubain shipped it in with kings running smack into Mike Leah's aces.
The board provided some kind of sweat, but Leah faded it and is now in the chip leader chair as Yacoubain hits the rail.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Mike Leah |
172,000
47,000
|
47,000 |
|
||
Mike Yacoubain
|
Busted |
Perth, Ontario's Scott Montgomery, a 2008 WSOP November Niner and 2010 WSOP bracelet winner, is starting to make moves now.
He used pocket nines to bust one short stack shoving and after a day in relative anonymity is now starting to build a stack worth bagging.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Scott Montgomery | 57,000 |