When we started day three of the WPT Grand Prix de Paris our aim was to reduce the field to 18 players. 61 players started and as the clock struck 01.00 the goal was reached and the person looking down on everyone else was American pro Matthew Waxman, who bagged up 1,120,000 chips.
Waxman started the day with 285,300 chips and never took a backwards step all day long. He has amassed just under $1 million in career earnings including a WSOP circuit event but he has never made a final table of a WPT event. With over a million in chips coming into day four, he will never have a better chance.
Waxman just seemed to cruise through the day and moved into the chip lead and over the one million mark after eliminating Benny Spindler in 24th place. On a flop of Waxman, Spindler and Martin Jacobson were in the thick of the action. Waxman checked, Jacobson bet 18,000, Spindler called, Waxman check-raised to 58,000, Jacobson called, Spindler moved all-in for 182,000 more, Waxman moved all-in and Jacobson folded…deep breath! When the cards were turned over Waxman had a set and Spindler had the nut flush draw . The dealer turned over the on the turn giving Waxman quads, a million chips and the number one spot!
Day three was also the celebratory bubble day and for once there was no bubble boy because instead there was a bubble girl! Poor Rebecca Guerin moved all-in on a flop of and Evgeny Zaytsev was sat holding a straight flush! Guerin received a consolatory kiss from Guillaume Darcourt whilst everyone around her cheered for joy.
Here are the final chip counts:
- Matthew Waxman : 1,120,000
- Mikko Sundell : 1,019,000
- Dimitry Stelmak : 918,000
- Ness Kourdourli : 839,000
- Byron Kaverman : 729,000
- Dori Yacoub : 664,000
- Hugo Lemaire : 560,000
- Martin Jacobson : 536,000
- Fred Magem : 531,000
- Guillaume Darcourt : 500,000
- Franck Pepe : 479,000
- Alexandre Brivot : 461,000
- Andras Kovacs : 293,000
- Stéphane Benadiba : 234,000
- Joe Cassidy : 180,000
- Jean-Noel Thorel : 173,000
- Marc Goldberg : 116,000
- Ahmed Debabeche : 50,000
Day four will commence at 14.00 (CET) Friday where we will play down to a final table of six.
For a full account of all of todays action read the live coverage here.
A full view of the day in full technocolour can be found here.