Photo Recap: Day 1A of WPT Montreal

There were 100 players who entered Day 1A of WPT Montreal, and 31 survived to Day 2. Click here for the full list of official chip counts.
 

The Playground Poker Club hosted its first WPT event back in November of 2012 (when Jonathan Roy outlasted a field of 1,173 to win $784,101), and it’s been one of the most popular stops on the tour ever since.
 

WPT Commentator Vince Van Patten (center) was on hand to welcome players to WPT Montreal with the traditional “Shuffle up and deal,” joined by WPT Royal Flush Crewmembers Brenden Johnson (left) and Tugba Ercan.
 

Defending WPT Montreal champion Mike Sexton outlasted a field of 648 entries here last year to win CAD $425,980 and add his name to the WPT Champions Cup alongside every other WPT champion in history. Unfortunately, Day 1A was not Sexton’s day, and he was eliminated early.
 

Debra Ann Holman had the chip lead at the second break with 112K, and she had built it up to 165K shortly before the dinner break. But then she lost a huge 180K pot against Andrew Dick (read about that hand by clicking here), and Holman finished the day with 65,900 (55 big blinds).
 

Registration remained open until the end of the dinner break, and the last player to enter the field was Bryn Kenney, currently ranked as the #1 tournament player in the world by the Global Poker Index.

Unfortunately, Kenney survived less than two hours, getting it all in on the turn with top two pair against the flush draw of Marc-Andre Ladouceur. A club hit the river to end Kenney’s Day 1A.
 

Two of the more famous Montreal pros — Marc-Andre Ladouceur (left) and Samuel Chartier — held the chip lead at different points today, but they finished Day 1A very differently.

While Ladouceur ended the day sixth in chips with 136,000 (113 big blinds), Chartier found himself down below 20 big blinds when he was eliminated by Christian Harder in a three-way all-in situation in the final minutes of the night.
 

There was a tight race for chipleader at the end of the night, with three players keeping it uncertain with a little more than 200K each. Marc-Olivier Tanguay led the field with 229K about half an hour before play ended, but he was closely followed by Conray Watson and Darren Keyes.
 

At the end of the night, it was Conray Watson who bagged the biggest stack — 229,000 (191 big blinds). Watson got a lot of chips early (third in chips at the second break), and just continued to build all day after that.

Originally from Jamaica, Watson now lives in Ottawa, and as soon as he bagged up his chipleading stack he had to drive directly to work, where his shift would last until 7:00 am. And it’s a good thing that Day 2 is on Monday, because Watson also has to work on Saturday and Sunday.

Click here to read more about Watson, who won his seat in the Playground Poker Club’s Thursday night satellite.
 

Day 1B of WPT Montreal begins tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:00 am ET, with registration open until the end of the dinner break (about 6:15 pm). Return to WPT.com for continuing live updates throughout the event.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com