Canada’s 2013 tournament scene has seen a momentum as never before as a world class tournament in the World Poker Tour is revving up for a repeat performance since making its phenomenal comeback to Canada just less than a year ago. With Montreal as the backdrop, Canada’s major tournament scene will wrap up 2013 with a $3,500 + $350 Main Event, as the WPT will join forces with PartyPoker to present the only major televised championship of the year live from Playground Poker Club between November 29 and December 5.
The WPT Montreal will bring along with it what will almost certainly be the largest prize pools and top payouts players can find on our turf. Add to all of this, the commentary talents of Mike Sexton, Tony “Bond18” Dunst and Vince Van Patten, along with anchor Lynne Gilmartin as well as all the charm of the hostess Royal Flush Girls and you have the right recipe for a world caliber event.
Historically, the World Poker Tour has been undisputed here in Canada when it comes to the life changing cash that comes with being crowned a WPT Champion. Whether we are talking the seven figures Scott “Big Riskky” Clements won in Niagara for bagging the North American Poker Championship, or the nearly $800,000 that Jonathan Roy took home for winning the inaugural 2012 WPT Montreal. Roy’s breakout victory haul also included a $25,000 WPT World Championships seat, which he then parlayed into more than another $420,000 with a 3rd place finish.
The following spring, the World Poker Tour returned to Playground Poker Club with another $3,300 Main Event, where Amir Babakhani won more than $440,000 at the PartyPoker.net WPT Canadian Spring Championships and then also ran up his $25,000 seat into a top ten finish worth better than $70,000.
These aren’t lone success stories either as many of Canada’s brightest poker talents skyrocketed into impressive careers after winning televised WPT final tables. Mike “SirWatts” Watson, Shawn “Buck21” Buchanan and Gavin Smith are just a few of the big names whose early bankroll boosts can be traced back to having their name engraved on the World Poker Tour trophy…long before their big cash bracelets, “All Time Tournament Money” leaders Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari both had their first million dollar plus scores behind the cameras of the WPT felts as well, and both were among the big names and faces in the field at WPT Montreal.
Fear not however, you don’t have to be amongst poker’s highest rollers to take their shot at defeating the elite on these felts as players can make their way to Montreal via PartyPoker; click here to see a packed schedule of routes to qualify for any budget (both live and online), from freerolls all the way up to the guaranteed Sunday satellites.
Hundreds of the nearly 1,200 players who turned out in Canada’s poker hotbed last year won their way into the championship through satellites and promotions, with bi-weekly qualifiers at Playground Poker Club also running now and a few “mega-sats” leading into game day. There will also be a plethora of side events running around the Championship to keep players of all levels of buy-ins happily grinding the felts; from a multi-day re-entry $150 No Limit Hold’em that has consistently crushed with 1,500+ entries, all the way to a $10,000 High Roller. With the recent WPT Borgata stop seeing more than 1,200 contenders, there is no doubt that the Eastern poker scene is hungry to crush records once again and build even bigger tournaments pots.
Those arriving at Playground Poker Club in time to take in the full festival will also get a chance to cheer on their favorites of the 12 players competing in the massive $125,000 buy-in PartyPoker Premiere League VII to be held from November 20th-26th.
The first three big names to be confirmed heading into October are TonyG, Jonathan Duhamel and Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari who told the folks over at the PartyPoker Blog that he was “Very excited to be playing in the premier league again – even more excited that its in Montreal at the Playground. Love Canada!
Ready to make your plans? See the full schedule below to make your choices and get qualifying for the Main Event!
| Date | Time | Event | Buy-In | Guarantee | Blind Level | Starting Stack | |
| #1 | Mon, Nov -18th | 7:30PM | NLHE Re-entry 1a* | $135 + $15 | $100,000 | 30 Min | 20,000 |
| #1 | Tues, Nov -19th | 7:30PM | NLHE Re-entry 1b* | $135 + $15 | $100,000 | 30 Min | 20,000 |
| #1 | Wed, Nov- 20th | 7:30PM | NLHE Re-entry 1c* | $135 + $15 | $100,000 | 30 Min | 20,000 |
| Thur, Nov -21st | Noon | WPT Satellite with Re-entry | $100 + $10 | 2 Seats GTD | 20 Min | 10,000 | |
| #1 | Thur, Nov-21st | 7:00PM | NLHE Re-entry Day 2 | $100,000 | 40Min | ||
| #2 | Fri, Nov-22nd | 4:00PM | NLHE Re-entry Day 1a* | $200 + $20 | $100,000 | 30 Min | 25,000 |
| #1 | Fri, Nov-22nd | 7:00PM | NLHE Re-entry Day 3 | $100,000 | 40 Min | ||
| #2 | Sat, Nov-23rd | Noon | NLHE Re-entry Day 1b* | $200 + $20 | $100,000 | 30 Min | 25,000 |
| #3 | Sat, Nov-23rd | 7:00PM | NLHE Win The Button | $100 + $10 | 20 Min | 15,000 | |
| #2 | Sun, Nov-24th | Noon | NLHE Re-entry Day 2 | $100,000 | 40 Min | ||
| #4 | Sun, Nov-24th | 5:00PM | NLHE Shootout | $135 + $15 | 15 Min | 15,000 | |
| Sun, Nov-24th | 8:00PM | WPT Satellite Rebuy-Add on | $100 + $10 | 2 Seats GTD | 20 Min | 5K + 10k | |
| #2 | Mon, Nov-25th | 7:00PM | NLHE Re-entry Day 3 | $100,000 | 40 Min | ||
| #5 | Mon, Nov-25th | 7:30PM | NLHE Six Max | $300 + $30 | 20 Min | 25,000 | |
| Tue, Nov-26th | Noon | WPT Satellite with Re-entry | $100 + $10 | 2 Seats GTD | 20 Min | 10,000 | |
| #6 | Tue, Nov-26th | 8:00PM | Pot Limit Omaha 8 or Better | $300 + $30 | 20 Min | 25,000 | |
| #7 | Wed, Nov-27th | Noon | NLHE Deepstack Day 1 | $1000 + $100 | 45 Min | 25,000 | |
| #8 | Wed, Nov-27th | 8:00PM | NLHE Survivor | $300 + $30 | 20 Min | 20,000 | |
| #7 | Thur, Nov-28th | Noon | NLHE Deepstack Day 2 | 45 Min | |||
| Thur, Nov-28th | 8:00PM | WPT Satellite with Re-entry | $300 + $30 | 10 Seats | 20 Min | 20,000 | |
| #9 | Fri, Nov-29th | Noon | WPT Montreal Day 1a | $3,500 + $350 | 60 Min | 30,000 | |
| #7 | Fri, Nov-29th | 3:00PM | NLHE Deepstack Day 3 | 60 Min | |||
| Fri, Nov-29th | 8:00PM | WPT Satellite with Re-entry | $300 + $30 | 20 Min | 20,000 | ||
| #9 | Sat, Nov-30th | Noon | WPT Montreal Day 1b | $3,500 + $350 | 60 Min | 30,000 | |
| Sat, Nov-30th | 8:00PM | WPT Satellite with Re-entry | $300 + $30 | 20 Min | 20,000 | ||
| #9 | Sun, Dec-1st | Noon | WPT Montreal Day 1c | $3,500 + $350 | 60 Min | 30,000 | |
| Sun, Dec-1st | 8:00PM | Re-entry Sat to High Roller | $1000 + $100 | 20 Min | 20,000 | ||
| #9 | Mon, Dec-2nd | Noon | WPT Montreal Day 2 | 60 Min | |||
| #10 | Mon, Dec-2nd | 8:00PM | Pot Limit Omaha 3 Lives Day 1 | $500 + $50 | 30 Min | 30,000 | |
| #9 | Tues, Dec-3rd | Noon | WPT Montreal Day 3 | 90 Min | |||
| #11 | Tues, Dec-3rd | 3:00PM | NLHE High Roller Day 1 | $10k + $400 | 60 Min | TBA | |
| #10 | Tues, Dec-3rd | 7:00PM | Pot Limit Omaha 3 Lives Day 2 | 30 Min | |||
| #9 | Wed, Dec-4th | Noon | WPT Montreal Day 4 | 90 Min | |||
| #11 | Wed, Dec-4th | 3:00PM | NLHE High Roller Day 2 | 60 Min | |||
| #11 | Thur, Dec-5th | 1:00PM | NLHE High Roller Day 3 | 60 Min | |||
| #9 | Thur, Dec-5th | 3:00PM | WPT Montreal Day 5 | 90 Min | |||
| #12 | Thur, Dec-5th | 7:00PM | NLHE Freeze out | $300 + $30 | 20 Min | 25,000 | |
| #13 | Fri, Dec-6th | Noon | NLHE Bounty | $185+15+100 | 30 Min | 20,000 |
These events allow players to re-enter on another Day 1 even if they have finished a previous Day 1 with chips. In the event that a player makes it past more than one Day 1 with chips, the player will start Day 2 with their largest stack while all other chips will be forfeited.
A 3% staff gratuity will be withheld from the prize pool of each of these tournaments.
I will definitely be there.
Phil Laak, Vanessa Selbst & Jeff Gross now all confirmed for Premier League as well