Conray Watson Bags Day 1a Chip Lead in the WPT Montreal Main Event

The World Poker Tour returned to Canada today for Day 1a of the Season XVI WPT Montreal Main Event from Playground Poker Club. The event features a C$2 million guaranteed prize pool, and a field of 100 entries were tallied on Day 1a. Following the event’s first 10 levels of play, it was Conray Watson (pictured) who bagged the chip lead with a stack of 220,900 in chips.

Watson is a relative unknown in the poker world, with just $512 in live tournament earnings, but all stories have to start somewhere and this WPT Montreal Main Event could be the start of something really great for Watson.

Watson told WPT.com he is originally from Jamaica, but now resides in Ottawa, Canada, where he works at Ottawa Fiber, an insulation company. Watson won his seat on Thursday night in the 7 p.m. satellite that awarded 42 seats to the tournament. Of note, that satellite tournament didn’t wrap up play until about 2 a.m. in the morning, so it was a rather quick turnaround for Watson.

“I played here last night in the satellite, and I won my seat in,” Watson said. “And then I came here this morning, and I wanted to cash my ticket out, but they told me, ‘Oh no, you’ve gotta play.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, no problem.’ Good thing I did it.”

On his way to bagging the chip lead of the opening starting flight, Watson knocked out Kevin MacDonald in Level 6 with the blinds at 200-400 with a 50 ante. After Ari Engel raised to 1,025 from middle position and Watson called from the hijack seat, MacDonald reraised from the big blind to 3,200. Watson was the only caller, and the flop came down . MacDonald led with a bet of 2,500, and Watson clicked it up with a raise to 5,000. MacDonald moved all in for 18,450, and Watson called with the . MacDonald turned over the , and the and ended his day.

Other than that hand, Watson cited a hand where he had a flush against aces that helped boost his stack.

“It was a flush against aces, I believe,” Watson said when asked about key hands he played on Day 1a. “That was a huge hand that stacked me up big time. It was before dinner, but after dinner I had a few small hits, but they were big enough to get me here.”

Like the others who advanced to Day 2 from Day 1a, Watson will have two days off before returning to action, during which he said he’ll return to work.

“Actually, I have to go to work,” Watson said of his plans for the next two days. “When I leave here now, I go to work, and then I finish in the morning. I finish work at [7 a.m.], so most likely I’ll be sleeping by [10 a.m.]. Then I’m gonna work Saturday and Sunday, and then I’m back here on Monday. I’m probably gonna call in sick Wednesday and Thursday.”

A deep run to Wednesday and further to Thursday when the final table takes place would be a good problem to have for Watson, but only time will tell to see if he makes it that far.

While Watson bagged the chip lead with the biggest stack to close out Day 1a, he wasn’t the only player to finish with more than 200,000 in chips. Marc-Olivier Tanguay (215,000), Darren Keyes (208,300), and Fabrice Pastor (201,000) were the others to achieve that feat.

Also amongst the 31 players to advance out of Day 1a were WPT Champions Club members Joe Than (126,100), Eric Afriat (107,000), Aaron Mermelstein (57,000), and David Ormsby (53,600).

Christian Harder was another player to bag chips at the end of Day 1a, and he put a stack of 110,000 in the bag. A good chunk of Harder’s ending stack came in the final level of the day when he knocked out both Samuel Chartier and Francois Bouchard on the same hand.

Chartier was first to move all in for about 18,500 from early position with the blinds at 500-1,000 with a 100 ante. Bouchard reraised all in from the cutoff seat for roughly 23,000, and then Harder called from the big blind having both of his opponents covered. Not only did Harder have the biggest stack, but he also held the best hand with the . Chartier had the , and Bouchard had the . The flop, turn, and river ran out to eliminate both Chartier and Bouchard.

The Season XVI WPT Montreal Main Event features reentry format, but players are only allowed to reenter for subsequent Day 1s instead of being allowed back in on the same day. That said, expect many players to return for Day 1b after having busted on Day 1a, including the event’s defending champion Mike Sexton. WPT Champions Club members Darren Elias, Brian Altman, and Asher Conniff were three of the others to bust on Day 1a.

Day 1b will take place starting at 11 a.m. ET, with players filling the room at Playground Poker Club. Another 10 one-hour levels are on the schedule, and you can follow all of the action right here on WPT.com.

As a reminder, the Season XVI WPT Montreal Main Event features a C$2 million guarantee on the prize pool and has three starting flights. There will be two satellites on Saturday, November 11. Both have a buy-in of C$420, with the first taking place at 12 p.m. ET and the second at 8 p.m. ET. The first one has three WPT Montreal Main Event seats guaranteed, and the second has 10 seats guaranteed.

Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com

Looking to win your way to a World Poker Tour event for your shot at becoming a WPT champion? Play for your chance on ClubWPT.com, where eligible VIP Members can play for over $100,000 in cash and prizes each month, including seats to WPT events, no purchase necessary.