Hicham Hilmi Leads Day 1B at the bwin WPT Grand Prix de Paris
Oct 26, 2013
The two starting flights are done and dusted and it’s the WPT National Series Annecy winner Hicham Hilmi who has the chip lead with 111,050 plastic things safely stowed away in a plastic bag with his name emblazoned on the front of it.
Joining Hilmi in the draw for Day 2 are WPT Champions Club members Jordan Cristos, Matt Salsberg, Tommy Vedes, Barry
Greenstein, Daniel Alaei, Ravi Raghavan and Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot.
Those that missed out include Paul Volpe, Timothy Adams, Jeff Rossiter, Bryn Kenney and WPT champs Guillaume Darcourt, Brandon Cantu and Sean Jazayeri.
A total of 92 players started Day 1B, and the clock showed 74 remaining at the end of the five levels. That means a 171 players have entered in total, and 132 remain with the additions of the Day 2 stragglers to take into consideration in the morning.
Here are the most significant talking points of the day:
Levels 1 & 2: Ricardo Manquant Leads
Ricardo Manquant is a soccer agent by day and interested poker player by night. He lives in France, but most of his live poker scores have come when playing in Marrakech, and that includes victory in the recent WPT National Series Marrakech where he won €127,273 after defeating Christophe Le Bellec in heads-up action just a few short weeks ago.
Manquant, who was seated to the left of Matt Salsberg all day, was the only player to breach the 70k barrier as he led after the first two levels.
Level 3: Guillaume Darcourt Eliminated
Guillaume Darcourt is the only player to win both WPT Main Event and National Series titles, but he will be the first to admit that he just hasn’t been getting the rub of the green in the past year, with the WPT National Series Cannes victory being his only cash.
That rotten luck – or form – continued today and Giuseppe Zarbo eliminated the Frenchman after finding himself short in the third level of action. Darcourt picked up pocket aces, only for Zarbo to find two pair on the turn holding [5s] [4s]; the money went in and Darcourt went out.
Level 4: Jeff Rossiter Eliminated, Petit Doubles and Ville Mattila Rising
With $3.5m in live tournaments already banked for 2013, Jeff Rossiter doesn’t have to worry about such trivialities as getting eliminated from tournaments, but he will still be disappointed that he didn’t add to the momentum gathered in his third place finish in yesterday’s high roller. Hilmi flopped a set of nines in a hand where Rossiter flopped top two pair to send the Australian home early.
Then we saw Emile Petit doubling through the early chip leader Ricardo Manquant. The pair getting it in on the turn with the board showing [Td] [5h] [4d] [Kh] with Petit holding [Kd] [5d] to hold a higher two pair than Manquant who held [Ts] [5s]. Petit moved up to 60k and Manquant dropped to the never regions of the chip counts.
Level 5: Double Eliminations Chip Up Bessette and Hilmi
The final level of the day was in stark contrast to the snail-paced action of the earlier levels.
Victor Chopeaux eliminated Brandon Cantu when his ace-queen clashed against the Frenchman’s ace-king, and as that was Cantu’s second bullet we will definitely not be seeing him on Day 2.
Next came the double elimination of Paul Volpe and Bryn Kenney, and it was Derrick Bessette who was left smiling. It was all-in pre flop with Kenney holding [Ks] [Jh], Volpe holding [Ad] [Kc] and Bessette holding [Kh] [Qh]. The flop of [Ac] [Qd] [2s] pushed Volpe into the lead, but the [Qs] spun it around in favor of Bessette. Once the river bricked, Bessette was blissfully unaware that he had just eliminated two of the best components of the game.
Whatever Derrick Bessette can do, Hicham Hilmi can do better. Hilmi found pocket aces in a three way all-in that saw Sean Jazayeri (AQ) and Yossi Ifergan (A9) heading for a twilight exit. Hilmi took not only those two scalps but the chip lead in the process.
So that’s what you call a wrap. Day 2 will commence at 14:30 (CEST) but players should take note that the clocks go back one hour tonight, meaning everyone has an extra hour in bed.
@WPT