Hum and Salter Win Last WPT Montreal Events at Playground Poker

There is one main place for poker in Montreal. Playground Poker Club is a preeminent place for everything from cash games to tournaments. So, when the World Poker Tour comes to town, Playground is the perfect venue.

Over the past several weeks, the WPT Montreal series has played out at the poker tables. There were a number of tournaments on the schedule, but there were three highlighted ones – a WPT500, a WPTDeepStacks, and a WPT Main Event.

They have now come to a close, and three players can now call themselves WPT champions.

Bradley Smith Wins WPT500 Montreal

The WPT500 offered a $500 buy-in (obviously) that kicked off on Sunday, October 20 with five online poker flights at PartyPoker and then eight live flights at Playground. Players could take advantage of unlimited reentries throughout that process, all to get in on the $1 million guarantee on the prize pool. There were also 20 seats guaranteed to the top finishers, each seat worth $3,300 for the WPT Main Event.

When all was said and done, these were the final numbers:

• Total entries: 2,135
• Prize pool: $1,035,475
• Total paid players: 304
• Minimum payout: $766

Day 2 brought all initial day survivors back to the tables, and eliminations were fast and furious through the payout schedule and down to just nine players. Stephane Nadot was the chip leader, followed fairly closely by Rodney Ramalho, and Bradley Smith was fourth in chips. Former WPT champion Shawn Buchanan was in fifth.

The final day of play was off to a slow start with the exception of some shorter stacks doubling up and Mathyeu Provost climbing into the lead. Provost then set out to eliminate the first two players, including Buchanan.

Smith doubled through Provost to stay alive and then went on to oust Nadot in seventh place. Provost stepped back up to eliminate Bergeron and Huang, and then Ramalho in fourth place. Smith did the honors of sending the only woman at the table, Natalya Goldis, out in third.

Provost took 45.7 million chips into heads-up play against the 18.35 million of Smith, but the latter doubled and chipped up methodically and carefully. He ultimately doubled through Provost to leave the former chip leader with one big blind, and the tournament ended on the next hand.

1^st place:  Bradley Smith (CA$140,000)

2^nd place:  Mathyeu Provost (CA$93,475)

3^rd place:  Natalya Goldis (CA$65,000)

4^th place:  Rodney Ramalho (CA$50,000)

5^th place:  Tsu Sheng Huang (CA$40,000)

6^th place:  Kevin Bergeron (CA$32,000)

7^th place:  Stephane Nadot (CA$25,000)

8^th place:  Shawn Buchanan (CA$20,000)

9^th place:  Michael Pitcher (CA$15,000)

Jack Salter wins WPTDeepStacks Montreal

Next up in the buy-in range was the WPTDeepStacks offering with its $1,500 buy-in. This tournament also offered unlimited reentries but only three starting flights and a $500K guarantee on the prize pool.

When the chips settled and registration closed, these were the numbers:

• Total entries: 596
• Prize pool: $867,180
• Total paid players: 85
• Minimum payout: $2,381

Day 2 brought 128 players together to continue play, and it went rather quickly toward the money and through the bubble. Some of the players who cashed included WPT commentator Tony Dunst, poker pro Shannon Shorr, and WPT champion Tony Sinishtaj. But when play stopped, only eight remained and Pat Quinn was the chip leader, followed by Ryan Yu, Santiago Plante, and Jack Salter.

Salter started strong on Day 3 by eliminating the first player from the table. He eventually busted Gonzalez Hernan in sixth, while Alexander James Allison, who had eliminated the seventh-place finisher, took out Yu in fifth. Allison then sent Plante out in fourth, and Salter ousted Quinn.

Salter had a massive lead starting heads-up play with 14,125,000 chips to the 3,775,000 of Allison. It took only a few hands for Allison to move, but Salter had him and captured the WPT title.

1^st place:  Jack Salter (CA$155,000)

2^nd place:  Alexander James Allison (CA$102,000)

3^rd place:  Pat Quinn (CA$72,980)

4^th place:  Santiago Plante (CA$56,000)

5^th place:  Ryan Yu (CA$44,000)

6^th place:  Gonzalez Hernan (CA$34,000)

7^th place:  George Grady (CA$26,000)

8^th place:  Andrew Ostapchenko (CA$20,000)

Geoffrey Hum Wins WPT Montreal Main Event

This tournament from the main WPT tour schedule required a $3,300 buy-in. It offered two starting days online at PartyPoker on October 20 before bringing it to Playground in Quebec for action on October 29. The event offered a single reentry per flight, of which there were three live after the two online, and the prize pool boasted of a $3 million guarantee.

When the final numbers were tallied, they came out as follows:

• Total entries: 1,109
• Prize pool: $3,327,000
• Total paid players: 159
• Minimum payout: $4,568

Day 2 whittled the field down to 159 players, and Day 3 took them well into the money, down to just 10 survivors. And it was a star-studded affair. Kelly Minkin and Kristen Bicknell both made the final table, as did former WSOP Main Event champion Martin Jacobson and former WPT champs Mike Leah and Mike Watson. Joseph Cheong was the chip leader.

Watson sent Jason Sagle out in tenth to set the final nine before Adedapo Ajayi busted Leah in ninth place and Michael Robar in eighth. Watson ousted Minkin, and that set the official table of six.

Ajayi stayed on a heater and eliminated Jacobson in sixth place, but Hum stepped in to bust Bicknell in fifth, and after a long period of four-handed play, Geoffrey Hum took out Watson in fourth. Double-ups changed everything until Hum took out Cheong in third place.

Hum then took 26.15 million chips into heads-up against the 18.15 of Ajayi, and it took less than 10 hands for Ajayi to push all-in with J-9 of hearts against the K-7 of hearts on a K-4-6 board with two hearts. The turn was a heart and gave Hum the victory.

1^st place:  Geoffrey Hum (CA$500,000)

2^nd place:  Adedapo Ajayi (CA$335,000)

3^rd place:  Joseph Cheong (CA$235,290)

4^th place:  Mike Watson (CA$180,000)

5^th place:  Kristen Bicknell (CA$140,000)

6^th place:  Martin Jacobson (CA$110,000)

 

Jennifer Newell

Jennifer Newell has been writing about poker and gambling since 2004. As the online gaming sectors have changed and grown, particularly in the United States and Canada, she has followed it all and written about it for websites like World Poker Tour and PokerScout. In her free time, she runs a small business, reads, cooks, and enjoys music.

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