Yesterday, I irrationally yelled in ALL CAPS about how players get knocked out of major tournaments so quickly on Day 2, only to have eliminations slow to a crawl after that. We’ll see how slow things go today, as just 17 players remain in the partypoker.net World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal Main Event. There will only be 11 eliminations on Day 4, as the six-handed final table is scheduled for Thursday. Typically, unless there are a lot of short stacks, players hold on as long as possible in the levels leading up to the final table so that not only can they take advantage of the pay jumps, but to also have that thrill of reaching the last day and make an appearance on TV. Oh yeah, and to still have a chance to win the entire tournament.
Tuesday’s Day 3 began with 50 players bellying up to the tables at the Playground Poker Club. Of the 17 remaining players, only chip leader Samuel Gagnon has more than 3 million chips, finishing the night with 3.35 million. Only two other players even have at least 2 million, and just barely: Benny Chen with 2.065 million and Terry Schumacher with 2 million even. This is to say that Gagnon was a tremendous lead. Let’s not crown him just yet, though, as we saw last week when Luis Cruz made a huge comeback at the final table of WPT Nottingham that a big chip stack offers no guarantees in poker.
As often happens in the days leading up to the final table, our chip leader reached the top of the leader board via a huge late pot. The WPT.com live updates picked the hand up at the turn with a board of K-T-6-7 and over 1 million chips already in the pot. Robert McGhee bet 400,000 and Gagnon shoved for 1.109 million. After Jason Mann folded, McGhee gave it some thought and called with A-K, good for top pair, top kicker (or, as 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Jamie Gold would say, “top-top”). Gagnon, though, had two black Sixes for a set, giving McGhee no chance to win the hand. The river, of course, was inconsequential and Gagnon doubled-up to 3.28 million after winning the largest pot of the tournament.
Aside from the general race to the final table, one of the bigger developing stories is that Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton is still in the tourney. Sexton, as you well may know, has been the voice of the World Poker Tour – along with Vince Van Patten – since the very beginning, so it will prove quite interesting (and fun!) if he were to make the final table. Who will take his place behind the microphone? Will Vince be outright rooting for his friend? MEDIA BIAS, I SAY! Sexton has also been a long-time partypoker ambassador, dating back to before the poker boom.
2016 partypoker.net WPT Montreal – Day 3 Chip Counts
1. Samuel Gagnon – 3,350,000
2. Benny Chen – 2,065,000
3. Terry Schumacher – 2,000,000
4. Ema Zajmovic -1,885,000
5. Nadir Lalji – 1,250,000
6. Tam Ho – 910,000
7. Robert McGhee – 880,000
8. Antonin Duda – 810,000
9. Alex Keating – 728,000
10. Jonathan Abdellatif – 695,000
11. Jason Mann – 694,000
12. Ilan Boujenah – 685,000
13. Mike Sexton – 584,000
14. Jake Schwartz – 465,000
15. Martin Raus – 455,000
16. Stuart Taylor – 445,000
17. Dakota Vandine – 235,000
