Day 1 of the Season XVI WPT Fallsview Poker Classic C$5,000 Main Event is in the books, and a record-setting day it was. With 516 entries tallied, the largest field size in the history of the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event was realized, putting the 489 entries of last season very much in the rearview. Each season since it joined the World Poker Tour, the WPT Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event has grown in size. The players in Season XVI will compete for a share of the C$2.337 million prize pool with C$451,821 up top to the winner.
In addition to the C$451,821 top prize, the winner will walk away with a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions that will be held at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas in May. The top 65 places will pay in the Season XVI WPT Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event.
Leading the 174 players who advanced to Day 2 was Joe Ferrier (pictured) with a stack of 318,300. Ferrier was followed closely by Cassidy Battikha with 312,400. Both players don’t have much on their live tournament résumés. From our research, Ferrier has no live cashes and Battikha has just under $65,000 in career live tournament earnings, both according to HendonMob.com.
Pascal Lefrancois held the chip lead for most of Day 1, but he was surpassed in the final levels of the night. Even though he fell out of the lead, Lefrancois finished with one of the largest stacks in the room and will be a tough competitor going forward.
The WPT Champions Club was well represented At Fallsview Casino Resort, but for Eric Afriat, Aaron Mermelstein, and Shawn Buchanan the quest for another WPT title will have to wait. Those three players all busted out prior to advancing to Day 2.
One of the WPT champions to advance to Day 2 was Canadian Mike Watson, who found a double in the final level of the night to finish on just about double the starting stack. Victor Ramdin was another WPT Champions Club member to advance to Day 2.
Day 2 of the Season XVI WPT Fallsview Poker Classic Main Event begins on Sunday, February 11, at 12 p.m. ET from Fallsview Casino Resort. The plan for Day 2 will be to play down to the final table, but there’s a good chance that could change given how many players are left. Final table or not, the money will be reached and it’s going to be one very exciting day of poker.
As always, keep it locked right here to WPT.com for continued coverage of the World Poker Tour.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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