French Canadian Jonathan Roy bested a field of 1,173 on Tuesday to take down the PartyPoker.net World Poker Tour Montreal event.
The 25-year-old earned $755,601 and a seat in the $25k WPT World Championship to be held at the Bellagio in May.
The $3,300 buy-in re-entry tournament set a record for the largest event over $1k in Canadian poker history and the biggest WPT event in Canada.
The crowd was rather impressive, too. WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel cheered on Roy and second-place finisher Pascal Lefrancois, a fellow Canadian.
After his victory, Roy, of Boucherville, Quebec, gave a nod to the rail of locals.
“This is incredible – the support here was amazing, the crowd really wanted to keep the title in Quebec and I am so happy to have done that,” he said.
Known for his online heads up play, Roy won the PokerStars Monaco EPT grand final no-limit hold’em turbo bounty in April for $83,202.
Meanwhile, most-decorated Olympian-turned-serious poker player Michael Phelps and Antonio Esfandiari railed their friend Jeff Gross, who finished third in Montreal.
Well-known pro Gavin Smith, another Canadian, finished fourth. Sylvain Siebert, of Ontario, and Peter Kaemmerlen, of New York, finished fifth and sixth respectively.
The first WPT event in Canada turned out to be the third-largest in the tour’s history, with a prize pool of more than $3,412,831.
The champion said he was impressed with the crowd.
“It was unbelievable to have Michael Phelps on the rail,” Roy said. “I got to win the title and shake him by the hand.”
In true Canadian form, the host casino Playground Poker Club also featured a friendly ice hockey challenge on day 1B, with a prop bet between Esfandiari and Phil Laak. Toronto Maple Leafs star Phil Kessel and NHL legend Guy Carbonneau, Daniel Negreanu and Team PartyPoker pro Marvin Rettenmaier in a puck shooting and goal keeping contest. Laak reportedly stopped more shots as goaltender than Esfandiari.
