Just 24 players remain in the 2013 World Poker Tour (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris Main Event as the tournament heads into Day 4 on Tuesday. Leading the very top heavy field in the race to the €340,000 first prize is Belarus’ Vasili Firsau with 756,000 chips.
Just how top heavy is the leader board? The average chip count of the 24 remaining players is 295,263. Only four players – Firsau, Peter Apostolou, Jean-Noel Thorel, and Kimmo Kurko – are above that mark. And really, it’s Firsau who is providing the bulk of the weight at the top end. His 756,000 chips are 200,000 more than Apostolou’s figure. Thorel is about another 100,000 behind Apostolou, and Kurko is 100,000 behind Kurko. So, even amongst the top four, there is a spread of 400,000 chips.
Oftentimes, there is one big hand that catapults a chip leader to the top of the chip counts, but in Firsau’s case, his stack was built through a series of eliminations. He was a knockout machine during Level 14, particularly. In that level, he took out David Peters with A-J over K-Q, then David “Devilfish” Ulliott when the two went all-in blind and Firsau ousted Ulliott’s short stack with 9-9 against A-K. Also during that level, Firsau used 4-4 to send David Boyaciyan and his A-T to the rail.
Firsau does not have the most extensive of live tournament resumes, but he did have a very strong European Poker Tour (EPT) Grand Final this year, placing tenth for almost $100,000.
Despite the field getting trimmed to just 24 on Monday, nobody entering play on Tuesday is guaranteed to walk away with a profit. Payouts start at 21st place, so the money bubble should burst relatively quickly on Day 4. Then again, with so many of the players bunched in the 100,000 to 200,000 chip range, caution might be on display and eliminations could slow to a crawl. We will soon see.
Regardless of when the tournament hits the money, play will continue on Tuesday until the final table of six players is determined. Stay tuned.
2013 World Poker Tour (WPT) Grand Prix de Paris Main Event– Day 3 Chip Counts
Vasili Firsau – 756,000
Peter Apostolou – 548,000
Jean-Noel Thorel – 458,000
Kimmo Kurko – 355,500
Average Chipcount: 295,263
David Hu – 291,000
Darko Stojanovic – 275,500
Rony Halimi – 265,500
Christina Lindley – 237,500
Guy Halimi – 234,000
Matt Salsberg – 218,500
Gjergj Sinishtaj – 210,000
Jason Koon – 206,500
Eldos Davlet – 195,500
Ali Mekhtoub – 189,500
Byron Kaverman – 166,500
Bernard Guigon – 157,000
Hicham Hilmi – 155,000
Ville Mattila – 151,000
Kara Scott – 145,000
Marvin Rettenmaier – 125,000
Victor Choupeaux – 120,500
Mohsin Charania – 102,500
Jonnie Sonelin – 77,500
Micah Raskin – 64,000
Elliot Smith – 48,500
