Full Tilt Poker Montreal Main Event Day 1b: Quebec Native Rivet Leads Survivors
The Full Tilt Poker Montreal Main Event continued on Saturday at the Playground Poker Club attracting 524 players to clear the C$1 million guarantee, and leading the 149 Day 1b survivors is French Canadian Guillaume Rivet. Rivet bagged 377,900 chips, and only one other player bagged more than 300,000 chips.
Rivet, a hometown player who finished sixth in the 2011 World Series of Poker $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship and won the 2012 Eureka High Roller at EPT Prague, took down an interesting hand during the last level of play. He and two others took a flop of 7♦9♠7♣, and Rivet opted to lead out for 7,000. Both of his opponents called. The turn was the 8♠, the action checked to a player on the button who fired out 12,000, and both Rivet and the player in the middle called. The trio checked when the 7♥ completed the bord, and Rivet won with 8♥6♥ for sevens full of eights.
The player who bet on the turn unhappily tabled J♠10♠ for a straight.
Fellow French Canadian Sam Chartier also ended Day 1b in the top 10, and he too won a pot in the last level thanks to a fortuitous river card. Chartier tank-called a bet of 22,500 on a board of A♠6♣3♦4♥, then snap-called a bet of 33,500 when the 5♠ completed the board. The player tabled A♣Q♣ for a pair of aces with a queen kicker, but it was no good against Chartier’s A♥5♥ for a rivered two pair. Chartier bagged 230,100 chips.
Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Name | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guillaume Rivet | 377,900 |
| 2 | Sylvain Siebert | 358,900 |
| 3 | Kevin Dawe | 297,800 |
| 4 | Frederic Larose | 296,200 |
| 5 | Craig Hyde | 264,100 |
| 6 | Theodore Dimitroulas | 252,800 |
| 7 | Sin Melin | 249,800 |
| 8 | Mehran Shahabi | 232,000 |
| 9 | Sam Chartier | 230,100 |
| 10 | Mike Vesia | 225,000 |
Two ambassadors, Danielle Moon-Andersen and Dermot Blain, sat next to one another for the latter part of the day. Both survived, bagging 97,500 and 154,100 respectively. Playground Poker Club Ambassadors Gavin Smith and Antonio Esfandiari are also off to Day 2. Esfandiari received a much-needed double up in Level 12 (800/1,600/200), raising to 7,800 after two preflop limps. Derrick Bessette, one of the limpers, called, then led out for 7,000 when the flop fell A♥4♥9♣. Esfandiari called, the turn brought the 6♣, and Bessette moved all in for 16,800. The Magician snap-called with 9♥9♠ for a flopped set, Bessette showed A♠7♠ for top pair, and the river was insignificant.
“I have been waiting all day for that,” Esfandiari said afterwards. He finished with 95,900.
Two other Full Tilt players who found themselves next to each other during play were Sin Melin and Gus Hansen. Hansen was unable to make it to Day 2, although he is guaranteed to have a stack on Monday after getting through on Day 1a, running ace-jack into Constantinos Psallidas’ aces. Melin ended the day as one of the leaders with 248,900 chips.
Among the unfortunate players to bust on Day 1b were FTP Ambassador Ben Jenkins, Team PokerStars Pro Jonathan Duhamel, and November Niner Marc McLaughlin.
Day 1c will commence at noon on Sunday, and all of the survivors from the first three flights will return on Monday. PokerNews will be on hand for feature posts, interviews, and a daily recap of the day’s events.
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