The Playground Poker Club was awash with poker players on November 23 as the 301 survivors from the three starting fights returned to their seats for Day 2 of the 2014 partypoker WPT Montreal Main Event. By the time the curtain came down on proceedings, only 49 of that crowd had chips that needed bagging, and nobody had more betting tokens than Maduka Meragal.
Meragal bagged up 1,423,000 chips at the close of play, some 352,000 more than anyone else in the field. A quick search of the internet brings no information up about Meregal, but that could all be set to change if he goes all the way and takes down the WPT Montreal Main Event title.
One man who certainly knows of Meragal is Serge Cantin who fell in 76th place at the hands of our relatively unknown force. Cantin checked on the 
flop, Meragal bet 50,000 into the 70,000 pot and then called when Cantin check-raised all-in for 300,000 in total.
Cantin flipped over 
and was practically drawing dead because Meragal held 
for middle set. The 
on the turn improved Meragal to a full house, but Cantin could still catch a ten or an ace on the river to win the pot. However, the river was the 
and Cantin, who finished third in this tournament last year, saw his tournament come to an abrupt end.
Meragal’s nearest rival is Marc-Andre Ladouceur and his 1,071,000 stack. Ladouceur, affectionately known as FrenchDawg in online poker circles, is a superb poker talent and now that he has plenty of chips at his disposal is going to be a formidable foe for anyone who has to lock horns with him on Day 3.
Antonio Esfandiari safely through to Day 3
Also through to November 24’s Day 3 are the reigning WPT Player of the Year (and one of our selections in our five to watch article) Mukul Pahuja (1,024,000), the vocal Maurice Hawkins (732,000), Jonathan Jaffe (698,000), Kevin MacPhee (639,000), Champions Club members Harry Arutyunyan (562,000) Andy Frankenberger (377,000) and Antonio Esfandiari (366,000), Todd Terry (467,000), Yann Dion (310,000), Sam Chartier (225,000), Brian Yoon (205,000), and Max Greenwood (153,000).
Mukul Pahuja on course for yet another WPT final table.
2014 partypoker WPT Montreal End-of-Day 2 Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maduka Meragal | 1,423,000 |
| 2 | Marc-Andre Ladouceur | 1,071,000 |
| 3 | Mukul Pahuja | 1,024,000 |
| 4 | Phillip Hui | 909,000 |
| 5 | TJ Ulmer | 800,000 |
| 6 | Sheraz Nasir | 766,000 |
| 7 | Maurice Hawkins | 732,000 |
| 8 | Jonathan Jaffe | 698,000 |
| 9 | Kevin MacPhee | 639,000 |
Each of the 49 returning players are guaranteed at least $8,930 for their efforts thanks to the bubble bursting during the 18th level of play.
Anthony Zinno, WPT Montreal bubble boy
The aforementioned Antonio Esfandiari opened to 12,000 from the button and Anthony Zinno called all-in from the big blind. Esfandiari turned over 
and Zinno the 
. A few second later, the 
board was dealt and Zinno busted in 91st place to burst the bubble.
Following Zinno to the rail, albeit with prize money in their back pockets, were the likes of Paul Volpe, Mark Darner, Mike “Timex” McDonald, Darren Elias, Xuan Liu, and Scott Clements.
Day 3 commences at 12:00 ET on November 24 and plans are to play down to the final table at which point the least money anyone is taking home is an impressive $79,725 with the champion scooping $409,656 and the title of 2014 partypoker WPT Montreal champion.
Read about the 2014 partypoker WPT Montreal Day 1a action
Read about the 2014 partypoker WPT Montreal Day 1b action
Read about the 2014 partypoker WPT Montreal Day 1c action
Qualify For WPT Fallsview
Has reading all about the 2014 partypoker WPT UK Main Event made you wish it were you who was competing for life-changing money in a World Poker Tour event? If so, you may want to check out the satellite tournaments feeding into the WPT Fallsview in Canada, which are currently in the partypoker lobby where you can win WPT Fallsview package for as little as a $5 outlay, can you imagine how awesome that would be?
We will be at WPT Fallsview, will you?
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