Mike Leah Leads partypoker WPT Montreal After Day 1b

Canadian pro Mike “GoLeafsGoEh” Leah has done his chances of adding a World Poker Tour title to the World Series of Poker bracelet he won earlier this year no harm at all after topping the Day 1b chip counts in the 2014 partypoker WPT Montreal Main Event.

Leah was one of 209 entries for the penultimate starting flight, of which only 87 managed to stamp their Day 2 ticket for November 23. Leah was fast out of the blocks and was the chip leader at the dinner break, meaning he won a pair of Monster DNA headphones. The popular pro banked a second pair of headphones thanks to topping the chip counts once the curtain came down on proceedings.

Part of the reason for Leah’s massive stack was a real cooler of a hand that went his way. It was a three-way all in involving Leah and his K♣ K♥ versus the A♦ A♣ of Rayan Chamas and the Q♣ Q♠ of Domenico Scalamonga.

It looked like Chamas was going to scoop a huge pout until the board ran K♦ 8♠ 6♦ 10♣ 5♦ to gift the pot the Leah and push him to the top of the chip counts.

Mark Darner progressed to Day 2 with a healthy stack

In addition to Leah, some of the more notable players to progress from Day 1b include Jonathan Jaffe (173,000), Mark Darner (162,700), Christian Harder (140,200), the vocal Maurice Hawkins (114,600), Brandon Steven (104,700), Day 1a bustee Todd Terry (100,000), Champions Club member Andrew Frankenberger (97,900), Byron Kaverman (70,400), Scotland’s Niall Farrell (69,200), Jason Mercier (66,100), Mike “Timex” McDonald (46,200), Matt Marafioti (42,100), and Lucas Greenwood (26,900).

While plenty of big names progressed to Day 2, some need to take another shot on Day 1c if they want to join them. The likes of Will “The Thrill” Failla, Curt Kohlberg, Marc-Andre Ladouceur, Dan Kelly, Chanracy Khun and Antonio Esfandiari busted at various points of the day.

Mike Leah sporting his new Monster Headphones

2014 partypoker WPT Montreal Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts

Place	Player	Chips
1	Mike Leah	297,000
2	Alim Perales	189,500
3	Sheraz Nasir	179,900
4	Jonathan Jaffe	173,000
5	Mark Darner	162,700
6	Harut Arutyunyan	154,700
7	Maduka Meragal	145,100
8	Christian Harder	140,200
9	David Williams	139,000
10	Max Greenwood	135,100

Day 1c, the final starting flight, commenced at 11:00 local time and will see the say 10 levels completed before the tournament director calls time. Will anyone be able to match the giant stack of Leah or that of Day 1a leader Scott Clements? We don’t have long to wait to find out.

The Royal Flush Girls, Champions Cup and the WPT Montreal winner’s belt.

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