Playground Poker Fall Classic: Samuel Gagnon Leads Final 17 of WPT Montreal
Day 3 of the partypoker.net World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal took center stage at Playground Poker Club on Tuesday with the field narrowed down to just 17. Online qualifier Samuel Gagnon leads the pack with poker legend Mike Sexton still in the mix.
Meanwhile, side events at the 2016 Playground Poker Fall Classic rolled on crowning two new champions as Mohamad Tareg and Dan Vigderhous collected some new hardware.
Fifty players returned for Day 3 of the WPT Montreal and after five 90-minute levels, the field was reduced to 17. World Series of Poker bracelet winner Michael Malm (49th-$8,280) was one of the first to go. Darren Elias (48th-$8,280) soon followed along with start of day chip leader Michael Gathy (39th-$9,370), Brian Altman (37th-$9,370), Andy Frankenberger (24th-$15,470) and Ryan D’Angelo (22nd-$15,470).
Gagnon, a partypoker online qualifier, sits atop the field building a stack of 3,350,000. Gagnon was the victor of the largest pot of the event so far, doubling through opponent Robert McGhee. Gagnon had flopped a set of sixes and got all of his chips in the middle on the turn with McGhee drawing dead.
Second in chips is Benny Chen with 2,065,000. Close behind is Terry Schumacher, bagging 2,000,000. Ema Zajmovic (1,885,000) and Nadir Lalji (1,250,000) round out the top five. A couple notables are still in the hunt including Alex Keating (728,000), Jason Mann (694,000) and Poker Hall of Famer and WPT commentator Mike Sexton (584,000).
Day 4 resumes at noon on Nov. 16 as the field plays down to an official final table of six.
Event #12: $1,100 NL Hold’em 50/50 Bounty:
The 12th event of the festival got underway at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning attracting a field of 205 entries. Yet another guarantee was smashed with the prize pool closing at $99,425. Heaps of bounty cash was up for grabs as well with a $500 bounty attached to every elimination.
Dylan Wilkerson, Evan Jarvis, Shyam Srinivasan, Rodney Ramalho, Laurence Grondin, Ruben Perceval, Ankush Mandavia,Cate Hall and Chanracy Khun were just some of the big names to fall before the money.
The bubble broke with the elimination of Gerald Fehr in 27th place. Ari Engel (18th-$1,490), Francois Goulet (16th-$1,490) and Paul Mohorea (15th-$1,800) were a few notables to leave with some consolation.
Mohamad Tareg entered the final table as chip leader and would dominate the remaining players en route to victory. Tareg defeated Richard Mask heads up to claim his final bounty. For the win, Tareg was awarded $24,450, and after tallying 17 bounties, collected an extra $8,500.
Final table results:
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mohamad Tareg | $24,450.00 |
| 2 | Richard Edwin | Mask |
| 3 | Chris Arvanitis | |
| 4 | Jonathan Roy | $6,200.00 |
| 5 | Jonathan Cameron | $4,790.00 |
| 6 | Shawn Daigle | $3,960.00 |
| 7 | Matthew Harris | $3,380.00 |
| 8 | Erik Lemarquand | $2,910.00 |
| 9 | Eli Israel | $2,440.00 |
| 10 | Steven Buckner | $2,120.00 |
Event #13: $330 5-Card PL Omaha:
The very fun, action-inducing format was well-received on Tuesday evening with a field of 92 entries, easily surpassing the $20,000 guarantee. In the end, it was Dan Vigderhous who made the best of all the cards and claimed the champion’s trophy. The win earned Vigderhous $5,212 after making a four-way deal.
Vigderhous navigated a field of some pretty strong players before capturing the title. Andrej Makovinovic, Jason Conforti, Chris McClung, Joey Boczek, Paul Sokoloff and Jason James were just a few to come and go without finding success.
Vigderhous quickly grabbed the lead at the final table, scoring a double knockout and busting Nick Nickoletopoulos in eighth and Glen Hammers in seventh. Adam Owen then took out Manfred Gunther in sixth before a crippled Gary Lucci fell in fifth. The final four discussed options for chopping up the remaining prize pool and were able to reach an agreement on new prizes for the final four positions.
Joseph Mazeltov dropped out first, falling to Owen who had retaken the chip lead. But, as five-card PLO can easily do, Owen’s fortunes changed and he was eliminated in third by Vigderhous. With a commanding lead, Vigderhous was able to dismantle a short-stacked Andy Huynh and hoist the champion’s trophy.
Final table results:
| Place | Name | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dan Vigderhous | $5,212.00 |
| 2 | Andy Huynh | $4,700.00 |
| 3 | Adam John Owen | $4,300.00 |
| 4 | Joseph Abitbol | $4,000.00 |
| 5 | Gary Lucci | $2,400.00 |
| 6 | Manfred Gunther | $1,890.00 |
| 7 | Glen Hammers | $1,480.00 |
| 8 | Nick Nickoletopoulos | $1,160.00 |
Check out PokerNews daily for a recap of all the action at the Playground Poker Fall Classic. Follow all of the action on the Fall Classic Event Blog.
