The WPT National Canadian Spring Championship Day 1A Coverage Highlights + Chip Counts

Play just wrapped up for Day 1A of the partypoker.net WPT National: Canadian Spring Championship event at Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Canada. Mike Sexton, Tony Dunst, and our Royal Flush Girls, Angelique Velez & Tugba Ercan, kicked off the start of the event with Shuffle Up & Deal.

The Royal Flush Girls And Company

Though this event was part of the Main Tour schedule last season, there was still a big amount of hype from local players, as this is definitely one of the more popular poker rooms in North America, or even in the world. Numerous times, I heard players rave about the staff, the venue, and other aspects that Playground has to offer.

3 Times The Fun…

The tournament will feature three Day 1’s, and players will only be allowed to fire a total of three bullets, once a day. The blinds will last for 45 minutes on each Day 1, as well as on Day 2, followed by 60-minute levels on Day 3 & 4. The lower buy-in of CAD $1,100 definitely appeals to a lot of the local players, and there is also a $1 million guaranteed prize pool on the table.

219 Reasons To Join In….

We had a total of 219 players join us on Day 1A, and of those 219, only 62 will be returning for more action on Day 2 of the event.

There were a few notables to follow in the field including Champions Club members Gavin Smith, Antonio Esfandiari, last year’s Canadian Spring Champion winner Amir Babakhani, Tony Dunst, as well as Erik Cajelais, Bay 101 Shooting Star and Fallsview Poker Classic runner-up Dylan Wilkerson, Xuan Liu, and our very own Mike Sexton, but the question on everyone’s lips is did he call clock?

Gavin Smith

Watch Out

Season XI Ones to Watch, Xuan Liu, had a quick start when she doubled up her stack against Bill Kontaratos. With the board showing Q♠ 6♣ 2♠ and a pot of more than 11,000, Bill Kontaratos checked, and Xuan Liu bet 4,700. Kontaratos waited a short while and then announced that he was check-raising all in, and Liu called right away.

Liu had A♦ A♥ and was well ahead of Kontaratos’ 7♥ 7♠. Liu then went all in for just over 25,000 and Kontaratos had her covered. The turn was the 10h and the river was the 8♥, and Liu’s aces held up to give her an early double.

Xuan Liu

Mike Sexton Busts Out And The Whole Room Cheers….WTF?

Sadly, Mike was eliminated during level 5, and his bust out was accompanied by a loud cheer in the poker room, though it was for reasons that had nothing to do with his departure from the tournament.

A lucky player in the cash games area had just claimed the bad beat jackpot worth over $400,000! Mike later learned that the gentlemen who won the jackpot had actually sat at his table for a while before busting out early on in the day!

The winner’s name was Richard Figiel. The flop came out to 10♣ 7♦ 7♣, and it checked to the button, who bet $11. Figiel and Morcos both called. The turn card double-paired the board with the 10♠, and again it checked to the button, who bet $20. Figiel and Morcos both called. The river card was the 5♥, and Figiel moved all in for about $104. Morcos called, and the button thought for a moment before he folded.

What A Way To End The Night!

Figiel turned over 7♥ 7♠, expecting to win the hand with quad sevens, but Morcos flipped over 10♦ 10♥ for quad tens. The entire table cheered and applauded. Morcos won the pot, but by losing to quads with quads, Figiel had won the Playground Poker Club Bad Beat Jackpot, which had reached $415,551.

For holding the losing hand, Figiel received the largest share of the jackpot, worth $157,865. For having the winning hand, Morcos received $78,955. Everyone else at their table received $11,279, while everyone who was playing at a cash game table at the time received $500. This was definitely not a bad way to end Figiel’s night at the poker tables.

Party People….

Of the 52 who qualified for entry into this event via partypoker, ten of them were in the field today; however, only six will be continue on to Day 2 of the tournament. Timothy Vukson, Franco Casarcia, Peter Katsoulis, and Alexandre Baron unfortunately did not make it past day 1 of the event.

We will be seeing more of Darcy Wright , Steven Schartner, Patrick Lalonde, Shane Brotherwood, Edward Hislop, and Steve Caplan in the next couple of days. After speaking with a couple of the qualifiers, Darcy and Steve C., it appears as though they’re having a great time and are enjoying themselves here at Playground Poker Club. Here is the full list of partypoker qualifiers:

• Darcy J. Wright
• Steven Schartner
• Patrick Lalonde
• Alexandre Baron
• Shane Brotherwood
• Edward Hislop
• Peter Katsoulis
• Franco Casarcia
• Stephen Caplan
• Timothy Vukson

Royal Flush Girl Tugba Ercan & partypoker qualifier Darcy Wright

Day 1A Chip Counts

Coming Up….

Tomorrow we should see at least 9 more qualifiers from partypoker. Eric Davis was chip leader at the end of today, and took home $276,300 for his victory over the rest of the field! Day 1B should begin promptly at 11am tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates!