The field for the penultimate day of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Montreal Main Event is now set and Dongwoo Ko is back at the top of the counts after another 10 levels of play on Sunday at Playground Poker Club.
The Day 1A chip leader went on a run in the closing level to finish just above Eun Park. The top two are one million chips ahead of their nearest competitor, Nektarios Papadedes.
"I called lots of bluffs today," Ko told PokerOrg after Day 2. "A lot of confident players are here and they are trying to make big raise-bluffs on the river. You don't see that from the lower stakes and recreational players a lot. I was able to find some calls."
Ko mastered a field that liked to bet big and a late-level sprint gave him 126 big blinds for the road to the final table.
"I was trying to induce bluffs and win maximum with marginal hands. It worked out for me today."
A total of 305 players survived the three opening flights and 29 runners turned out for max-late registration to make for a Day 2 field of 332, down from a total of 882 entries. Of those 332 returning players, 44 survived the Day 2 gauntlet to qualify for a Day 3 where everyone will be guaranteed at least C$14,400 ($10,579).
They're all fighting for a share of the C$2,808,230 ($2,063,130) prize pool, from which C$420,730 ($309,099) will go to the winner.
No rest for Jonty
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom's Jonathan Willis is on fire at WPT Montreal after he outlasted a field of 1,395 entries in the WPT500 for C$105,860. While he is known to most as "Jonty" — Willis is the Director of Product for WPT Global — and he will return on Monday to continue the sun run with 43 big blinds.
"I have to work as well, but it's been amazing," Willis told PokerOrg after he bagged on Day 2. "The structure has been amazing, the atmosphere has been amazing. It's been really good."
There's nothing to complain about for Willis, even if he still has to get up and work every morning.
"(WPT Global) mostly has European hours, so I've been getting up at 4am a lot and doing extremely long days. I'm going to be up tomorrow morning, as well."
As any player who works behind the scenes in poker knows, you're not off the hook just because you're running deep in the tournament — but Willis wouldn't want that, anyways.
"I want to make sure stuff gets done. It's a hectic week."
Who will make the WPT final table?
Another player with the hot hand at Montreal is Dan Stavila with 69 big blinds for Monday. He has already qualified for Tuesday's WPT Prime final table where he will battle with Brad Owen for the top prize. He will join a stacked Day 3 roster that includes Xuan Liu and Charles Kassin, who among the top stacks and fresh from his deep run at the Borgata Spring Poker Open in Atlantic City.
Of the opening flight's chip leaders, only Ko is still alive. Day 1C leader Graham Lupton bowed out early in the day and Day 1B's top stack Hasanain Al Ghunaim fell in the opening moments of Level 20.
Two players from the WPT Champions Club, Eric Afriat and Tony Dunst, remain with the opportunity to add to their WPT title resume. Afriat is a three-time champion, most recently in 2020 when he won at WPT Fallsview just before COVID-19 shut down live poker. Dunst, a WPT lifer, won his first WPT title in 2013 and this would be an opportunity to win a second in the same place where WPT TV legend Mike Sexton won his own in 2016.
The remaining players will return on Monday in Level 21 with blinds at 15,000/25,000/25,000. Levels remain 60 minutes long until 40 players are left, at which time they will increase every 90 minutes.
Photos courtesy of World Poker Tour/Enrique Malfavon
