Hendrik Latz, Jean-Pascal Savard, and Eric Afriat Finish Day 3 on Top of Final 28

Photo: WPT Champions Club member Eric Afriat

When Jean-Pascal Savard’s day began, he was heading in the wrong direction. He finished as one of the top three stacks advancing from Day 1, but a tough table draw saw his chip count plummet from 180,000 to 80,000.

Savard says he had some trouble with Daniel Dvoress on his left to start the day, but after the first break, everything started going right for the Quebec City poker pro.

By dinnertime, Savard had taken the chip lead, and he stayed in the top three counts for the rest of the day, cruising comfortably to bag and tag while others saw their stacks, rise, fall, and disappear at a rapid-fire rate once the money bubble burst.

The only hiccup in his day came on the last of the night when Hendrik Latz busted partypoker qualifier Nicholas Le Floch on the last hand of the night to best Savard for the chip lead by 4,000 chips.

Even the bubble hand was a dramatic big pot. Oftentimes the bubble boy is someone with few chips and even fewer options but to move all-in. This tournament’s bubble hand was a cooler with Thundhup Ringpa running A-K into aces in a nearly half million-chip pot.

Pascal and Lanz were not the only big stories of this snowy Montreal day. After starting the day as chip leader, WPT Champions Club member Anthony Zinno got through the day with an above-average stack, bagging 499,000. Meanwhile, the other WPT Champions Club member still in the field, Eric Afriat, spent some of the early parts of the day as chip leader and ended third in chips with 825,000.

Zinno and Afriat know how to close at a WPT final table, but partypoker qualifier Ema Zajmovic knows how to final table WPT events at Playground Poker specifically. The last woman left in the field finished in fifth place at the partypoker.net WPT Montreal event in November. She is currently 20th in chips with 257,000.

Keep an eye on the partypoker qualifiers as well. After 21 of the 31 qualifiers made it through to Day 2, an impressive seven of them made the money and four are still in the running for the title. Mathieu Gagniere (44th), David Graves (37th), and Le Floch (29th) all made the money, but busted by day’s end. Zajmovic, Kalpesh Raichura (645,000), Alexandru Baron (342,000), and Victor Adams (272,000) are all coming back for Day 3 action on Monday.

The moving day began with 157 Day 1 survivors from the two starting flights and Zinno leading the pack along with Michel-Claude Baroud and Savard.

After ending Day 1B on top, Baroud was unable to survive to the dinner break while Zinno and Savard continued to trend upward.

Baroud was far from the only player to not find much success on Day 2 though. Justin Liberto, Upeshka De Silva, Sam Chartier, Mike Leah, Matt Affleck, partypoker qualifiers Kristen Bicknell and Michael Tureniec, and WPT Champions Club members Tony Dunst, David Paredes, Jonathan Roy, and Darren Elias.

Mike Sexton’s run at another Playground Poker title came to an end as well. Sexton busted early in the day after getting short. He was short-stacked and rallied back in November at the partypoker.net WPT Montreal event he won.

Other players managed to make it through the money bubble, but failed to survive the day. Notable in-the-money finishers include Marc Etienne McLaughlin (41st), Christian Harder (35th), and WPT Champions Club member Nenad Medic (32nd).

The 28 players who are still in the running to be the next WPT champion from Montreal will be back in action on Monday at 12 p.m. ET. Here is a look at the top five chip counts:

1. Hendrik Latz – 838,000
2. Jean-Pascal Savard – 834,000
3. Eric Afriat – 825,000
4. Kelly Kellner – 809,000
5. Henry Tran – 693,000

Photo: Jean-Pascal Savard

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com