The official World Poker Tour final table for the Season XVI WPT Montreal Main Event was set on Wednesday at Playground Poker Club, and just six players remain from the field of 606 entries. Leading the way to close out Day 4 was Patrick Quinn (pictured above) with a stack of 6.415 million.
“I found it a little easier than I expected,” Quinn said of his day. “They weren’t testing me as much as I expected them to, so in that regard, it wasn’t too strenuous of a day for me.”
Quinn began his rise when he eliminated Alex Keating in 16th place for the first elimination of Day 4. He later took out Curt Kohlberg in 11th place and entered the nine-handed final table second in chips to Maxime Heroux. There was some jockeying for the chip lead with nine players left before Eric Afriat, the only WPT Champions Club member left in the field, knocked out Brady Hinnegan in ninth place.
With eight players left, Quinn surged to nearly 4.5 million in chips. With seven players left, after the elimination of Mohammad Abu-Hadbah in eighth place, Quinn pushed past 6 million in chips and kept on climbing.
Eventually, David Peters knocked out Bradley Ellis in seventh place to end the day.
Season XVI WPT Montreal Main Event Final Table
Seat 1: Eric Afriat – 1,040,000
Seat 2: Maxime Heroux – 5,345,000
Seat 3: Derek Wolters – 1,095,000
Seat 4: Brendan Baksh – 940,000
Seat 5: Patrick Quinn – 6,415,000
Seat 6: David Peters – 3,345,000
Entering Day 4, all eyes were on Afriat (pictured below). Not only was he in line to win his second WPT title, but Afriat was leading the final 16 players. Throughout Day 4, Afriat’s stack was on a total roller coaster ride, up and down and up and down. Although he began the day at the top of the group, Afriat quickly dropped to the short stack with 13 players left.
“My plan was not to play big pots, but on the big blind I wake up with ace-king, after a raise and a reraise,” Afriat recalled of one hand early on against Brendan Ziyad Baksh. “I’ve got huge cards, so I’m gonna reraise the button. He shoves all in with ace-ten, and he’s the tightest player in poker. He shoves all in with ace-ten, I wake up with ace-king, I can’t fold there. So it was 950,000 chips, ten on the flop, there goes 950,000, and I’m down to 1.3 [million]. Another hand, a guy goes for a flush draw, hits a deuce on the river instead of his spade, and he gets me with a pair of deuces. Then it’s queens against ace-king, guy hits a king. It was just a nightmare for three to four hours.”
Down but not out, Afriat didn’t let a little adversity stand in his way, and the winner of the largest WPT Main Tour event in the tour’s 16-season history pressed on.
“I brought it back up to 3.5 million, and then my nemesis on the left, Maxime Heroux, he was like an insect that never wanted to go away,” Afriat said. “In thirty years of poker, I never went through a nightmare like this guy. I must have given him four or five million in chips. I didn’t beat him in one hand all night. Twelve hours, he was always on my left. So I’m ready for the redraw, I’m all excited to get rid of him, and he ends up on my left again. He redraws me on the left side. What are the odds when there are nine players? It was a nightmare. Today was a nightmare. It was one of my hardest days of poker in the last seven years. Since the Bellagio in 2010, when I made the WPT final table, and we played until 4:30 in the morning. That was the hardest day of poker I ever played. Today was the second hardest.”
Afriat went on to finish out Day 4 with 1.04 million in chips. He’ll be the second shortest stack returning for Thursday’s finale, but he reached the televised WPT final table and will be competing for his second World Poker Tour title.
“I only have a million chips, so I don’t know how far I can go,” Afriat told WPT.com. “I need a miracle tomorrow. And we’re not getting rid of that guy Maxime, he’s still on my left with 6 million in chips, so my odds are not very good. I’m like a boxer, and he hit me for 11 rounds. But I’m gonna get up tomorrow. Luck can change very fast.”
Heroux, who Afriat deemed his toughest opponent, finished the day second in chips with 5.345 million. Others to reach the final table were David Peters with 3.345 million, Derek Wolters with 1.095 million, and Brendan Baksh with 940,000.
Peters, for all of the poker accolades the young star holds, has yet to win a World Poker Tour title. His career boasts more than $23 million in live and online tournament earnings combined, and Thursday could see him forever engrave his name in WPT history by winning the Season XVI WPT Montreal Main Event.
The Season XVI WPT Montreal Main Event final table will begin on Thursday at 4 p.m. ET from Playground Poker Club. You’ll be able to follow along with tournament coverage right here on WPT.com, or you can wait 30 minutes for the stream of the event to kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET on PokerGO. PokerGO commentary will be led by Dave Farra and Griffin Benger will be providing analysis.
“The gameplan is to keep doing what I was doing today,” Quinn, the chip leader, said about the final table. “Play solid hands, and try and get a few pots when the time is right. Just solid poker.”
We’ll see you on Thursday for the conclusion of this event and to see who walks away with the C$403,570 top prize!
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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