Canadian Jonathan Roy Wins Inaugural WPT Montreal
Nov 28, 2012
By Diana Cox
One of the largest World Poker Tour Main Events in the tour’s 11-year history came to an end when all the chips in play were stacked in front of Jonathan Roy. Appropriately, for the WPT’s first main event in Canada since 2008, the final table came down to two Canadians at WPT Montreal.
Roy outlasted a field a massive field of 1,173 players and walked away with $779,710 from the $3,387,930.00 prize pool.
At the front of of a packed house, Roy battled heads up with Pascal Lefrancois for a spot on the Champion’s trophy, the prize money and the WPT silver belt.
The final hand came to down Lefrancois being forced all-in for less than one big blind after being severely crippled when he ran his [6h6s] into Roy’s [KsQc]. With their stacks nearly even, Pascal raised to 1,000,000 from the button and Roy re-raised to 2,400,000. Pascal moved all-in and Roy called. The board ran out [Kd7h7cQdJh] and nearly all the chips were moved to Roy’s end of the table.
On the next, and final hand of the night, Lefrancois was all-in for his last 500,000 after being dealt [8c3h]. Roy had [KsJh] and the board ran out [KcJc4dQd9d] to end the night.
Peter Kaemmerlen’s final table appearance was extremely short lived as he was eliminated on the very first hand of the day.
From under the gun Kaemmerlen raised to 300,000 and Jeff Gross answered with a re-raise from the small blind to 1,260,000. Kaemmerlen decided it was time to push his final 2,400,000 to the middle of the table. The shove was enough to put Gross into the tank before he made the call.
When the two flipped their cards over Kaemmerlen was ahead with [JdJh] against Gross’s [Ah10d] and stayed ahead after a flop of [7s5d4c]. The [9h] on the turn was good for Kaemmerlen and he needed only to dodge an Ace in order to survive and double up. But an Ace, the [Ad], was turned over on the river to give Gross the best hand and send Kaemmerlen away.
After Kaemmerlen’s exit, Sylvain Siebert, who began the day as the chip leader, became the fifth place finisher when he moved all in from the big blind with [6c6d]. Roy called from the big blind with two black Queens. The dealer spread [KcKs4dAs7s] and Roy’s Queens held to eliminate Siebert.
Following Siebert to the rail was Gavin Smith, who started the day with the short stack. Smith moved all-in from the small blind with [Ad5s] and Roy called from the big blind with [Kc7s]. The board is dealt [8d8s2c7d3c] pairs Roy’s seven on the turn to end Smith’s tournament.
Smith’s deep run marks his fifth WPT final table.
Gross’s third place elimination set the stage for the heads-up match when he moved all-in from the button for 2,475,000. Roy called from the small blind with [AsQc] and Gross found he was behind with [KdQc].The board ran out [Ac6c6s2dKs] to give Roy two pair and remove Gross from the table.
Gross was quickly congratulated by his friend, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who was on the rail.
WPT Montreal final table results:
1st: Jonathan Roy – $779,710
2nd: Pascal Lefrancois – $470,920
3rd: Jeff Gross – $317,450
4th: Gavin Smith – $211,745
5th: Sylvain Siebert – $146,360
6th: Peter Kaemmerlen – $113,155
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