Bradley Smith Turns Day 2 Short Stack into WPT500 Montreal Title

By Tim Duckworth

The second running of the WPT500 Montreal attracted a field of 2,135-entrants that created a CA$1,035,475 prize pool that would pay the top 303 places.

Held in partnership with partypoker LIVE, the WPT Montreal Festival saw three marquee WPT events take center stage at Playground in Kahnawake, Quebec. And what better way to kickoff the WPT Montreal Festival then to have a Canadian collect the first major title as Bradley Smith was crowned the WPT500 Montreal champion while collecting the CA$140,000 first-place prize.

The 44-year-old native of Toronto, Ontario, is a part-time poker play while also managing his other occupations of being a chiropractor, owning a business, and trading stocks. Smith has over $217,000 in lifetime tournament earnings with just over $33,000 of those coming on the WPT. At last year’s WPT Montreal Festival, Smith finished in 44th place in the WPT500 Montreal before adding a 33rd place finish in the WPT Montreal Main Event.

“I was really short stacked to start Day 2,” Smith said, “I was in 301st place out of 303 people and ran it up to finish fourth in chips coming into the final table.”

Smith entered Day 2 with a min-cash of CA$1,000 his most expected result as he only had two players shorter then him and sat with under ten big blinds. Fortunately for Smith, he remained patient, rode some luck, and found himself entering the final table fourth in chips today.

When play resumed just after noon local time, the final nine players were all guaranteed CA$15,000, and out of the gate there would be a string of doubles for the player at-risk and trailing. Mathyeu Provost cracked Tzu Sheng Huang’s kings before Huang doubled through overnight chip leader Stephane Nadot. Natayla Goldis and Michael Pitcher both found doubles with the best hand as Nadot now found himself as the short stack.

For the Frenchman, he was fortunate to find an ace on the river to see Huang’s kings cracked for a second time. Nadot found one more double winning a race as players headed on their first break of the day.

Provost had reclaimed the chip lead while the majority of the remaining players all sat between 10 and 15 big blinds. Down to just one big blind, Pitcher would shove under the gun with and be chopped up by two opponent’s holding an ace to leave the field down to eight. WPT Champions Club member Shawn Buchanan would be eliminated in eighth place when he called all in holding to be well ahead of Provost’s , but a runout would see Provost river a straight and leave the final table with seven players.

With the average stack very shallow at just 13 big blinds, Bradley Smith earned a double before eliminating Nadot in seventh place when he spiked a pair on the turn to leave just six Canadians fighting it out.

As the final six players took an unscheduled break, once play resumed, Kevin Bergeron would be eliminated when he called all in holding to be against Provost’s . Two tens on the flop would send Bergeron to the rail in sixth place, and just a few hands later Huang would follow him to the payout cage when his was outdraw on the turn against Provost’s .

Just four players remained, and Provost held over 60% of the chips in play. Rodney Ramalho entered the day second in chips, but he would leave in fourth place with he ran into Provost’s pocket jacks to move his stack upwards of 75% of the chips in play. Soon after, Goldis’ run would end in a gallant third place when her would be outkicked by Smith’s on a final board of .

Provost and Smith were now heads up for the WPT500 Montreal title with Provost leading with 45.7 million to Smith’s 18.3 million, and immediately Provost furthered his lead rivering a straight in a hand to send Smith down to 9 million in chips.

Smith continued to battle back and found a double catching some luck with his against Provost’s before adding more chips in a series of pots before doubling into the chip lead when his struck two pair against Provost’s .

With only 42 big blinds in play, the hand that did all the damage saw both players see a limped flop of . From there, the rest of the chips went into the middle with Smith leading with his against Provost’s . Provost needed a jack or spade to claim the WPT500 Montreal title, but when the turn and river bricked out, he was down to just a small blind. The final hand saw Provost call all in dark and was dominated by Smith. The flop left Provost drawing nearly dead, and when the final card was dealt, Provost was eliminated in second place and Smith was crowned the WPT500 Montreal Champions.

“It feels good,” Smith said, “It’s my second biggest live score and since I don’t play full time, I’m very happy with how it all went.”

Congratulations to Bradley Smith, winner of WPT500 Montreal for CA$140,000!

WPT500 Montreal Final Table Results
1st: Bradley Smith – CA$140,000
2nd: Mathyeu Provost – CA$93,475
3rd: Natalya Goldis – CA$65,000
4th: Rodney Ramalho – CA$50,000
5th: Tsu Sheng Huang – CA$40,000
6th: Kevin Bergeron – CA$32,000
7th: Stephane Nadot – CA$25,000
8th: Shawn Buchanan – CA$20,000
9th: Michael Pitcher – CA$15,000

The top 20 finishes all received a CA$3,300 seat into the WPT Montreal Main Event

Photography by Tomas Stacha / Poker-Photo

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