It has been fairly the 12 months for David Dongwoo Ko. The British Columbia native grew to become a World Sequence of Poker (WSOP) Circuit ring winner in July 2023 earlier than including a second piece of WSOPC {hardware} in Calgary in January 2024. And now, he is bagged one other accolade, taking down the WPT Montreal Championship. Ko has already racked up nearly $500,000 in stay match earnings throughout his quick stay poker profession; this won’t be the final time you hear about him.
The CAD $3,500 buy-in WPT Montreal Championship drew in 882 entrants who created a CAD $2,822,400 prize pool that the highest 111 finishers shared. Darryll Fish, Mike Leah, Xuan Liu, Jonty Willis, Sam Chartier, and three-time WPT champion Eric Afriat have been among the many in-the-money finishers.
The televised ultimate desk was performed six-handed, and all eyes have been on Dan Stavila, who had completed fourth within the WPT Prime Montreal occasion the day earlier than. Ko led the best way after bagging up the chip lead on Day 1A, Day 2, and Day 3, however victory was removed from assured.
2024 WPT Montreal Championship Ultimate Desk Outcomes
| Rank | Participant | Prize (CAD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Dongwoo Ko | $434,900 | $319,217 |
| 2 | Dan Stavila | $280,000 | $205,520 |
| 3 | Tommy Nguyen | $205,000 | $150,470 |
| 4 | Rayan Chamas | $155,000 | $113,770 |
| 5 | Tamer Alkamli | $117,000 | $85,878 |
| 6 | Charles Kassin | $89,000 | $65,326 |
It took nearly two hours and 27 arms earlier than the ultimate desk misplaced its first participant, after which three gamers busted consecutively.
First, Tommy Nguyen min-raised to 250,000 from beneath the gun with pocket kings, Charles Kassin three-bet to 755,000 from the cutoff with pocket queens, just for Nguyen to make it 7,750,000 to go. Kassin referred to as all-in, and the neighborhood playing cards missed him, sending him to the rail in sixth place.
The very subsequent hand, Ko raised to 300,000 with ace-king from the cutoff, Tamer Alkamli three-bet to 1,050,000 within the small blind with a pair of black queens within the gap, after which snap-called for his 5,275,000 stack when Ko set him all in. A king on the flip despatched Alkamli to the cashier’s desk and Ko to the highest of the chip counts.
Ko prolonged his lead one hand later after serving to himself to Rayan Chamas‘ stack. Once more, Ko raised to 300,000 from the cutoff, this time with ace-nine. Chamas moved all-in from the large blind with king-nine for 1,950,000, and Ko seemed him up. Neither participant improved, and Ko’s ace-high scooped the pot.
WPT Prime Returns to Sanremo From Could 31; Win Your Seat at WPT International
Weathering a Literal Storm
After the 74th hand was dealt, the match was paused indefinitely after a storm triggered an influence outage all through the Playground. The facility remained out for greater than two hours however resumed shortly after 8:00 p.m. PDT.
Three-handed play lasted nearly 100 arms earlier than one thing lastly gave. A brief-stacked Nguyen open-shoved from the small blind with what turned out to be queen-three of golf equipment. Ko referred to as from the large blind with ace-ten, and proceeded to flop journey tens; Nguyen was drawing lifeless on the flip.
Ko went into the heads-up battle with Stavila holding a 67 to 43 massive blind benefit. Twenty-one arms later, Ko had his arms on the trophy. After limping in for 500,000, Ko referred to as the 1,800,000 increase from Stavila, and it was off to a ten-eight-deuce flop with two golf equipment. Each gamers checked, resulting in the 9 of golf equipment on the flip. Stavila checked, Ko examined the waters with a 2,450,000 guess, and Stavila referred to as.
The three of hearts accomplished the board, and Stavila checked once more. Ko guess 2,450,000, Stavila paused earlier than shifting all-in for 16,025,000. Ko snap-called and confirmed king-trey of golf equipment, a cooler as a result of Stavila held queen-six of golf equipment for a decrease flush. Stavila busted in second place for CAD $280,000, whereas Ko captured the CAD $434,900 prime prize, which included a seat within the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.
Zhang Denies Owen the WPT Prime Montreal Title
Jikai Zhang helped himself to a career-best rating of CAD $165,070 by taking down the WPT Prime Montreal occasion. Zhang outlasted a star-studded subject of 1,291 gamers to get his arms on the lion’s share of the CAD $1,291,000 prize pool.
The six-handed ultimate desk exploded into life on the twenty fifth hand when Zhang’s pocket kings held in a three-way all-in involving the ace-king of Marc Lavergne and the pocket fours of Steven Martin. The kings held to ship Martin house in sixth and Lavergne to the showers in fifth.
Dan Stavila’s ace-queen failed to remain forward of Zhang’s king-ten of spades, and fell in fourth nearly 100 arms later earlier than Brad Owen’s king-trey of hearts could not get there towards Adam Cader‘s king-nine two arms later.
Zhang led by nearly three to 1 going into heads-up, and he totally pressed house that chip benefit on the 177th hand of the ultimate desk. Zhang raised to 2,000,000 on the 400,000/800,000/800,000a stage and immediately referred to as when Cader moved all-in. Cader revealed ace-ten however was in a world of ache towards Zhang’s pocket aces! No assist arrived for Cader, and he bowed out in second place, leaving an overjoyed Zhang to elevate the trophy and assist himself to a career-best payout.
2024 WPT Prime Montreal Ultimate Desk Outcomes
| Rank | Participant | Prize (CAD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jikai Zhang | $165,070 | $120,744 |
| 2 | Adam Cader | $131,300 | $96,042 |
| 3 | Brad Owen | $88,000 | $64,369 |
| 4 | Dan Stavila | $66,000 | $48,277 |
| 5 | Marc Lavergne | $50,000 | $36,574 |
| 6 | Steven Martin | $38,000 | $27,796 |
The subsequent WPT Prime cease sees the favored tour head to Sanremo, Italy. WPT Prime Sanremo runs from Could 31 by June 10 on the On line casino Sanremo. You possibly can win a $1,500 WPT Prime Passport on-line at WPT International every week and achieve this for a couple of bucks. Join a WPT International account through PokerNews‘ hyperlinks to safe a beneficiant welcome package deal.
