WPT’s Canadian Finale
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Six players stand on the cusp of a $442,248 top prize as the WPT’s Canadian Spring Championship comes to a close later today.
Despite a number of recognisable pros making it to within inches of this year’s WPT final table inside Montreal’s Playground Poker Club, today’s finale will be a somewhat less stellar affair.
Indeed, after Bryan Piccioli and Christian Harder hit the rail in eighth and seventh respectively, it was their relatively unknown assassin, Amir Babakhani who held the chip lead at the close of play.
Having dispatched with arguably the two toughest players left in the tournament, Babakhani will start today’s final table with 6,635,000 which is enough to put him ahead of Barry Kruger (4,770,000) and Jason Duval (4,155,000).
The final hand of the night saw Harder go from broke with pocket nines, only to find Babakhani able to make the quick call with pocket queens. Needing a slice of luck to stay alive, Harder eagerly watched as the dealer spread an 8s 7h 3s 8c 5s board.
After failing to hit one of his outs, Harder headed for the rail with a $66,132 consolation prize, while the remaining six players bagged their chips ahead of today’s finale.
Final Table Chip Counts:
1 Amir Babakhani 6,635,000
2 Barry Kruger 4,770,000
3 Jason Duval 4,155,000
4 Tao Liang 3,870,000
5 Jonathan Bardier 1,470,000
6 Martin Leblanc 1,140,000