World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris Day 2: Gruissem Grabs Lead
The World Poker Tour Season XI Grand Prix de Paris continued on Wednesday at the Aviation Club de France. The day began with 143 of the original 228 players, and after four 90-minute levels, only 63 remain.
Philipp Gruissem is the chip leader with 280,600. He shot up the charts in the middle of Day 2 and was a nuisance to his tablemates, especially Peter Jetten. In one particular hand, Jetten opened to 2,500 from the cutoff seat, Salman Behbehani called on the button, and Jetten three-bet to 10,600 from the small blind. Gruissem called, Behbehani released, and the dealer fanned 8♠J♥Q♠. Jetten led out for 12,000, Gruissem raised to 28,000, and Jetten called. The turn was the 10♦, and Jetten opted to check-fold when Gruissem fired 38,000.
Jetten took a nice-sized pot off of Gruissem a few orbits later however, and finished Day 2 with 156,600 chips.
Gruissem wasn't the only player able to accumulate chips throughout the day, Bryan Colin (243,300), Matt Salsberg (229,700), Juha Helppi (222,800), and Giacomo Fundaro (216,100) all finished with over 200,000 chips.
Here's a look at the official top 10 counts:
| Rank | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philipp Gruissem | 280,600 |
| 2 | Bryan Colin | 243,300 |
| 3 | Matt Salsberg | 229,700 |
| 4 | Juha Helppi | 222,800 |
| 5 | Giacomo Fundaro | 216,000 |
| 6 | Mohsin Charania | 196,300 |
| 7 | Antony Lellouche | 184,800 |
| 8 | Fabian Quoss | 178,900 |
| 9 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 178,600 |
| 10 | Idris Ambraisse | 175,200 |
Antony Lellouche, who finished the day with 184,500 chips, climbed the leaderboard during Day 2, and won a nice-sized pot when he eliminated WPT Champions Club Member Scott Seiver. Lellouche, Seiver, and a third player took a flop of J♦10♦A♣ in a raised pot. The original raiser tossed out a continuation bet, Seiver moved all in for around 20,000, and Lellouche flat-called. The original raiser folded, and Lellouche tabled K♦Q♣ — the nuts.
Seiver was drawing live with J♣10♣, but neither the turn (2♠) or the river (3♠) filled him up, and he was eliminated.
Michael Mizrachi, a fellow WPT Champions Club Member, was also eliminated during Day 2. The two-time World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players Championship champion got the rest of his chips in the middle with two nines, but was dominated by Antonio Subtil's pocket kings.
Joining Mizrachi and Seiver on the rail were, among others, Jonathan Duhamel, Kara Scott, Casey Kastle, Davidi Kitai, Stephen O'Dwyer, Nicolas Levi, Andrew Seidman, Ramzi Jelassi, Igor Kuranov, and the Season X Grand Parix de Paris winner Matt Waxman.
The official prize pool information was released, and a total of €1,624,500 will be dispersed amongst the top 27 finishers. The minimum cash is €13,305, each member of the final table will earn a minimum of €75,765, and the winner will pocket €400,000, which includes a seat in the $25,000 WPT World Championship in May. Here are the final table payouts:
| Place | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st | €400,000 |
| 2nd | €264,600 |
| 3rd | €170,065 |
| 4th | €125,775 |
| 5th | €95,615 |
| 6th | €75,765 |
Day 3 will begin Thursday at 1500 CEST (0600 PDT). 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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