Six players entered the ring at the PartyPoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship, but only one walked out a champion as Amir Babakhani dodged and weaved his way through the final table to claim more than $442,000 in first-place money and add his name to the illustrious WPT Champions Cup.
The day’s action got off to a slow start, taking more than two hours before we saw the first elimination when Jonathan Bardier fell victim to blind-on-blind violence. After Bardier completed from the small blind, Amir Babakhani raised to 300,000 from the big blind, prompting Bardier to three-bet all in. Babakhani quickly called and turned over Ah-Qc to dominate Bardier’s Ac-Jh. A board of Qs-8h-3c-8s-6s gave Babakhani two pair and a monster chip lead, while sending Bardier to rail in sixth place with nearly $82,000 in his pocket.
Babakhani took credit for the day’s second elimination as well, sending Martin Leblanc home in fifth place. The hand started with Bobby Liang raising to 250,000 from the cutoff and Babakhani re-raising to 700,000 from the button. Action folded to Leblanc in the big blind who moved all in for just 180,000 more (880,000 total), forcing a fold from Liang and a snap call from Babakhani who again held Ad-Qd to dominate Leblanc’s Ac-6c. The board ran out Jd-10s-8c-Qh-4s, pairing Babakhani’s Queens and sending Leblanc packing with just over $102,000.
Bobby Liang was next player sent packing when he moved all in from the big blind with Ad-2h after Jason Duval raised the pot from the button. Duval called and showed Ah-9c, dominating Liang. Neither player connected on the board of 8h-4c-3h-Qs-Ks, and Liang left in fourth place with nearly $137,000.
After giving Duval a chance to knock someone out, Babakhani turned the tables and sent the young pro home in third place when he raised the button with As-4c and got Duval to call all in with Qs-9s. Duval missed all of his draws on a board of Jh-10h-3s-Js-3h and went home in third position nearly $200,000 richer.
Babakhani entered heads-up play with a 2.5-1 chip lead over Barry Kruger, and the players took some time before playing any big pots. Two double ups gave Kruger new life in the match, but on the tournament’s final hand, Kruger check-called Babakhani’s bet 0f 600,000 on a flop of 5c-5d-3d. The 2c on the turn brought a Kruger check, a bet of 1.3 million, and a check-raise all in for 3.3 million. Babakhani called and turned over 8c-5s to out-kick Kruger’s 5h-4h. The Qc on the river brought no help, and Babakhani became the newest member of the WPT Champions Club, earning more than $442,000, including a $25,500 entry to next week’s WPT World Championship.
Payouts
- Amir Babakhani — $442,248
- Barry Kruger — $272,555
- Jason Duval — $199,029
- Bobby Liang — $136,700
- Martin Leblanc — $102,251
- Jonathan Bardier — $81,767