Seth Davies Wins First Event of Season 15 of the World Poker Tour
Season 15 of the World Poker Tour kicked off this week at Playground Poker Club with the 2016 partypoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship. Following a field size of 417 entries generating a prize pool that topped $1 million, Seth Davies emerged victorious to win the $226,893 first-place prize.
Included in the prize for Davies was a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.
For Davies, the win proved the biggest of his live poker career. According to Hendon Mob, Davies now has 18 live tournament cashes, and the last four have all be in WPT events, with this one being the icing on the cake. The other three WPT cashes Davies has recorded all came in 2016, with a 16th-place finish in the Borgata Winter Poker Open for $20,054, a 13th-place finish in the L.A. Poker Classic for $57,180, and a 51st-place finish in the Bay 101 Shooting Star for $19,000.
In total, Davies now boasts nearly $500,000 in career live tournament earnings.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize (CAD) | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seth Davies | $274,540 | $226,893 |
| 2 | Ruben Perceval | $180,088 | $148,833 |
| 3 | Joel Miller | $115,570 | $95,512 |
| 4 | Thomas Taylor | $85,460 | $70,628 |
| 5 | Guillaume Nolet | $64,160 | $53,025 |
| 6 | Tony Dunst | $51,400 | $42,479 |
Tony Dunst was the headlining name to start the final table on Thursday, May 5, but he became the first player eliminated. Dunst first lost a chunk of chips when Joel Miller doubled through him on Hand #20, according to event reports, and then Davies delivered the final blow on Hand #31. Dunst was all in with the A?J? against the 10?10? for Davies, and a board of Q?5?4?3?K? ended his run.
On Hand #43, the next two players went out in a double elimination that saw Davies bust both Thomas Taylor and Guillaume Nolet with pocket kings. Taylor had two nines, and Nolet had the A?7?.
Another double up for Miller came on Hand #46, but his run came to an end on Hand #51. Pocket kings were doing the damage again, but this time the cowboys belonged to Ruben Perceval.
That set up the heads-up match between Davies and Perceval, with Davies holding 6.78 million in chips to Perceval's 5.68 million. At the time the duel began, the blinds were at 30,000/60,000/10,000.
The battle took 48 hands, saw two lead changes, and one double up with Perceval doubling through Davies on Hand #97. But two hands later, it was all over on Hand #99 in one heck of a hand.
With the blinds up to 60,000/120,000/20,000 and Perceval right around 5 million in chips, Davies raised to 275,000 on the button. Perceval called, and the flop came out 10?9?4?. Perceval checked, Davies bet 375,000, and Perceval check-raised to 1.075 million. Davies called to see the turn.
Fourth street was the 7?, and Perceval led with a bet of 800,000. Davies made the call to see the 5? land on the river, and Perceval moved all in for 2.88 million. Davies went into the tank, but eventually made the call with the K?10? for top pair. Perceval had just a pair of sevens with the 8?7? and his bluff attempt had failed to see him eliminated in second place.
While Perceval's valiant and powerful bluff attempt failed, he did earn his best live score at $148,833.
Other notables to cash in the event were Jason Lavallee (11th), Antonio Esfandiari (24th), Darryll Fish (42nd), Poorya Nazari (43rd), Jeff Gross (44th), Andy Frankenberger (48th), DJ Mackinnon (49th), Ari Engel (50th), and Danny Suied (51st).
Next Up for the WPT
Season 15 of the WPT will continue in Amsterdam, with the WPT Amsterdam �3,300 Main Event kicking off May 10 from Holland Casino. Last year's field grew to 341 entries with Farid Yachou winning �201,000 for first. The Main Event will boast a �1 million guaranteed prize pool and be covered by the PokerNews Live Reporting team.
*Image courtesy of the WPT.
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